The opposition in Argentina criticized this Thursday (17) a measure by the Senate, chaired by Vice President Cristina Kirchner, which would go against a Supreme Court decision Court of Justice on the appointment of the coveted positions in the Council of Magistrates.
The Supreme had annulled a week ago the appointment of two government senators in the body in charge of appointing, sanctioning and dismissing judges in Argentina, for consider that the presidency of the Senate deviated from the rules when the ruling bloc Frente de Todos split to wrest the place of second minority from the opposition.
In response, this Wednesday (16), the governing group in the Senate took to plenary the decree that appoints the questioned senators – in particular, Claudio Doñate – ignoring and criticizing the decision of the Supreme Court – which had given rise to the appointment of the opponent Luis Juez – so that the vote would give him political support.
“Cristina Kirchner again did not comply with the law. Yesterday, a line advanced and even more so because it is a decision of the Court”, said the mayor of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, member of the main opposition coalition, Together for Change, and one of the probable candidates for the presidential elections of 2023.
“We will insist on institutional channels, as is convenient. We are going to court and I have no doubt that Luis Juez is and will be the representative of the Senate on the Judiciary Council”, added Larreta.
Another opponent, liberal deputy José Luis Espert, from the Avança Liberdade group , announced that it had filed a criminal complaint against Cristina and the senators “who yesterday attacked democracy” and for the crime of “aggravated disobedience” for disrespecting a Supreme Court decision.
This instance is yet another of the constant clashes between the Executive and the Supreme by the Council of the Magistracy.
The body, which was created with the constitutional reform of 1994, initially had 20 members, but, due to a reform promoted in 2006 by Cristina herself, then a senator, now has 13 members, a change that was contested in court and that at the end of 2021 the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional.
In the absence of enactment of a law to organize the Council of the Magistratu However, the Supreme assumed the presidency of the body last April, deepening the political dispute with the Executive, especially with the sector that responds to former President Cristina (1994-2015).
