MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

The growing power of Argentina's Kirchner

Political virtuosity has enabled Argentine President Néstor Kirchner to increase his power over all government branches without transforming him into a Hugo Chávez look-alike, according to London-based international affairs publication The Economist.

Kirchner has "cast off the fetters" put on him by the 1993 Olivos Pact signed by ex-president Carlos Menem with the congressional opposition at the time which allowed him to reform the Constitution and attain a second term in office, adds The Economist.

The "fetters-off" move was achieved by laws that lowered the number of members of the judiciary watchdog, increased taxes on export revenues and gave the President discretionary powers over spending.

The weekly magazine highlights that Kirchner "initially won praise" for making a more "transparent" Supreme Court but then went on to erode the judiciary. The smaller Council of Magistrates grants Kirchner a higher proportion of representatives on the body who respond to him.

Therefore Kirchner has the power to "deny the body a quorum, giving him in effect a veto over judicial nominations."

The revamp of the Council of Magistrates may have been "a coup" for Kirchner but is a "minor" one compared to the one achieved in Congress, states the British publication. Because he controls Congress without the need for a majority Kirchner can use executive decrees at will ? and lawmakers do not reject them.

The presidential hold over Congress has gone to the extent that Congress has conceded "one of its primary powers to the President" by allowing him to permanently "rewrite spending bills," in what is known as "superpowers," writes The Economist.

While Kirchner's "superpowers" have been lambasted by the local opposition The Economist says they only give the Argentine President a power similar to that held by his Brazilian peer. Nevertheless, the weekly quotes a political columnist who believes Kirchner is still the "most centralizing President in Argentina's modern democratic history."

Unlike its sister publication the Financial Times, The Economist does not pay attention to Kirchner's diplomatic antics. Shortly after the visit to Argentina of Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands in March, the FT ? which owns a stake in The Economist ? defined Kirchner's foreign policies as "provincialism".

Queen Beatrix was left waiting at Buenos Aires Opera House by President Kirchner in spite of having said he would be going. (Buenos Aires Herald).-