The recently elected members of Argentina’s new congress will be taking the oath on 3 December, and numbers show that the current coalition of president Cristina Fernandez, Victory Front, will retain the first minority in the Lower House, while it will enjoy a comfortable majority in the Senate.
Next October 25 Argentines will be voting for a new president but also to renew half of all seats (257) in the Lower House and one third of seats in the Senate. This means that more than fifty percent of the 130 seats available currently belonging to the ruling Victory Front (FpV) of Cristina Fernandez as the “first minority” within the legislature, will be disputed.
I'm asking all Argentine and mainly those who have aspirations of leading the country, to open their heads, said Cristina Fernandez in reference to the recently signed agreements with China, which are in the framework of an integral strategic association and have under strong criticism.
In her usual fiery style Argentine president Cristina Fernandez on Sunday addressing Congress lashed out at the Judicial branch, questioned the political use of the AMIA bombing, for the first time openly referred to the Nisman case, and underlined that Argentina is no longer 'in the red'. She ended with a veiled warning to whoever succeeds her following on October's presidential election.
Argentine president Cristina Fernandez flew on Tuesday evening to Rio Gallegos, where according to the presidential agenda she will visit the mausoleum built by her to the memory of her late husband and former president Nestor Kirchner.
The 127 Argentine Lower House members who were elected in the 27 October midterm election took the oath of office during a ceremony in Congress on Wednesday which ensures the ruling coalition of President Cristina Fernandez the necessary votes for quorum and absolute majority.
Argentine Cabinet Chief Jorge Capitanich announced on Friday the government sent a bill to Congress raising taxes on luxury goods such as premium model cars, recreation boats, motorbikes and aircraft, and underlined that ”those who want to buy luxury goods will have to pay more,” he warned.
Argentina admitted that it stepped down at last minute from participating in South America's largest military air exercise in Brazil, Cruzex 2013 to avoid any possible injunction situations as that experienced by the Navy's three mast frigate that ended retained in a port of Ghana.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez's governing bloc held onto control of Congress in Sunday's mid-term elections, but the results also confirmed the emergence of a new group of powerful leaders who with different messages (and non-messages) anticipated on that same night that their target it the presidential chair in 2015.
Sunday's midterm election in Argentina has become crucial for the government of President Cristina Fernandez who must retain control of Congress in the last two years of her mandate ahead of the 2015 presidential election, otherwise she runs the risk of becoming a lame duck accompanied by a most unwished end for the legacy of the Kirchner couple decade-plus rule.