ARGENTINA

On August 17, referents of the opposition coalition Juntos por el Cambio presented before the National Congress a request for impeachment against the President of the Nation, Alberto Fernández. This coalition does not have enough votes for the request to succeed, so the decision seems to be due to a political strategy which consists of placing the issue on the public agenda.

A few days ago, a photo was taken at the presidential residence during the period of mandatory social isolation, in which the President of the Nation was celebrating the birthday of his partner, Fabiola Yañez, together with friends. In response, some deputies of Juntos por el Cambio promoted the filing of a request for impeachment proceedings against the President on the grounds of poor performance and the possible commission of the crime of breach of duties as a public official.

According to the procedural rules, those promoting the process should obtain 172 votes of the Chamber of Deputies (two thirds of the seats). However, this is unfeasible, since 120 of the 257 legislators that make up the body are members of the ruling party. The same happens in the Senate, where Frente de Todos has 41 seats out of the total of 72, so it is unlikely that 48 senators will support the impeachment request. However, the decision to promote the impeachment would not seem to respond to the expectation of achieving the removal of Alberto Fernandez. Instead, we understand that the bill obeys a political strategy that consists of placing the issue on the public agenda.