Argentine Senate

Infobox Legislature
name = Argentine Senate
coa_pic =
coa-pic =
session_room =
house_type = Upper House
leader1_type = President of the Senate
leader1 = Julio Cobos
party1 = PJ Front for Victory
election1 = 10 December, 2007
leader2_type = Provisional President
leader2 = José Pampuro
party2 = PJ Front for Victory
election2 = 2006
leader4_type = Majority Leader
leader4 = Miguel Ángel Pichetto
party4 = PJ Front for Victory
election4 = 2006
leader5_type = Minority Leader
leader5 = Ernesto Sanz
party5 = Radical Civic Union
election5 =
members = 72
p_groups = PJ Front for Victory
Radical Civic Union
Support for an Egalitarian Republic
Civic Coalition
Plural Consensus
PJ Federalism and Freedom
Civic Front for Santiago
Civic and Social Front of Catamarca
Republican Force
San Luis Justicialists
Production and Labour
Justicialist for Dialogue with Argentines
Neuquino People's Movement
New Party
New Party Corrientes
Salta Renewal Party
Socialist Party
election3 = 28 October, 2007
meeting_place = Senate Chamber
Argentine Congress
Buenos Aires
Argentina
website = http://www.senado.gov.ar

The Argentine Senate is the upper house of parliament in Argentina. It has 72 senators: three for each province and three for the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. Senators are elected by direct election on a provincial basis, with the party with the most votes being awarded two of the province's senate seats and the second-place party receiving the third seat. Currently one-third of the members are elected every two years to a six-year term: in other words, one-third of the provinces hold senatorial elections every two years. There are no restrictions on repeated re-election.

The Senate is presided over by the Vice-President of the Republic, who has the casting vote in the event of ties.

Requirements

According to Section 55 of the Argentine Constitution, candidates for the Argentine Senate must
* be at least 30 years old
* have been a citizen of Argentina for six years
* be native to the province of his office, or have been a resident of that province for two years.

Composition

:"See List of current members of the Argentine Senate"

‡

Senate of Argentina (as of January 2008) [http://www.senado.gov.ar/web/informacion/legislativo/senado/bloques/cuerpo1.php]
Party blocs	Seats	Party blocs	Seats
PJ Front for Victory	42	Radical Civic Union	8
Civic Coalition	2	Support for an Egalitarian Republic	2
Civic Front for Santiago	2	Civic and Social Front of Catamarca	2
San Luis Justicialist Party	2	Republican Force Tucumán	2
Plural Consensus	2	Alliance New Front	1
Neuquino People's Movement	1	New Party Corrientes	1
PJ Federalism and Freedom	1	Production and Labour	1
Justicialist for Dialogue with Argentines	1	Salta Renewal Party	1
Socialist Party	1
"72 members"

Although there are, as of December 2007, 18 party blocks in the Senate, in reality these act as a smaller number of groupings. [http://www.senado.gov.ar/web/informacion/legislativo/senado/bloques/cuerpo1.php] [http://parlamentario.com/articulo-1647.html]

Some of the provincial electoral fronts and the Plural Consensus of dissident radicals support the majority Front for Victory block. There is speculation that the Plural Consensus block may grow if the other FPV-supporting senators join. The Socialist Party senator and the two existing ARI senators are expected to work closely with the new Civic Coalition senators, but they have not formed a single block. There are three sets of 'dissident' Peronists, and various provincial parties, mainly of the right, who work with other blocks as occasion arises. This has left the second largest block, the Radical Civic Union, rather isolated with its eight remaining senators. [http://parlamentario.com/articulo-1647.html]

Leading senators

The Senate is presided over by the Vice-President of the country, currently Julio Cobos. Day to day leadership of the Senate is conducted by the 'Provisional President', who has been Front for Victory (FPV) Senator José Pampuro since 2006.

Other positions include:
*Senate Vice-President - Sen. Juan Carlos Romero (FPV)
*First Vice-President - Sen. Juan Carlos Marino (UCR)
*Second Vice-President - Sen. Roberto Basualdo (Alliance Front of Production and Labour)
*Administrative Secretary - Carlos Machiaroli
*Parliamentary Secretary - Juan Estrada

*Leader of the PJ Front for Victory block - Sen. Miguel Ángel Pichetto
*Leader of the UCR block - Sen. Ernesto Sanz [http://parlamentario.com/articulo-1647.html]

2005 election

ee also

*Argentine Chamber of Deputies
*List of former Argentine Senators

External links

* [http://www.senado.gov.ar senado.gov.ar] – Senate of Argentina