1994 reform of the Argentine Constitution
Encyclopedia : 1 : 19 : 199 : 1994 reform of the Argentine Constitution
The 1994 reform to the Argentine Constitution was approved on 22 August, as a result of the Olivos Pact between by that time president of Argentina Carlos Saúl Menem, and the former president and leader of the opposition Raúl Alfonsín.
Menem's main point of the reform was to allow a president to govern for two consecutive mandates. A similar modification was done in the 1949 Argentine Constitution Reform that allowed Juan Domingo Perón to stay in the presidential seat for two consecutive terms, but the reform was derogated with the 1957 reform.
On August 22, after three months of deliberations in the cities of Paraná and Santa Fe (traditional seat of constitutional conventions), the reform of 43 articles was finally approved. The deliberations didn't finished without altercates; for instance, Monsignor Jaime de Nevares resigned to his seat claiming the convention to be vitiated with absolute nullity.
Even though the reform changed the length of each term to 4 years instead of 6, what would invalidate Menem as a candidate for the following elections after 6 years of mandate, he not only obtained the faculty of presenting for the 1995 elections, but succeeded in being re-elected.
Among the most important points of the reform are:
- The length of the presidential term was shortened from six to four years.
- The reelection of the president and the vice-president was allowed (only two consecutive terms).
- The requirement for the president to be a Roman Catholic was removed.
- The terms of senators and representatives (diputados) were also shortened.
- The electoral system, formerly an indirect vote (as in the United States) became a direct election, with a ballotage system.
- The capital, Buenos Aires, was given the special status of Autonomous City (Ciudad Autónoma).
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