Martín Menem Re-elected as Argentine Chamber Speaker

Martín Menem was re-elected as President of the Chamber of Deputies. Cecilia Moreau (UxP) will serve as the first Vice President, and Luis Petri as the second Vice President. The third Vice Presidency remained controversial, as it is claimed by the Unidos interblock and another coalition formed by PRO, UCR, Adelante Buenos Aires, and Santa Cruz, as both have 22 legislators each. Despite complaints from the head of the Unidos interblock, Gisela Scaglia, an agreement was reached between Libertad Avanza and allied blocks to postpone this decision. The election for the President of the Chamber began around 3 PM following the oath-taking of the 127 legislators. Menem's re-election was backed by Libertad Avanza, Unidos, Innovación Federal, Coalición Cívica, PRO, UCR, Producción y Trabajo, MID, Independencia, Elijo Catamarca, and the monoblocks of Adelante Buenos Aires and Por Santa Cruz. When opening the debate on the appointment of authorities, the head of the LLA block, Gabriel Bornoroni, proposed Menem's re-election, stating that “he is the right leader to carry out the reforms” promoted by the National Government. The head of the Unión por la Patria block, Germán Martínez, criticized Menem's performance because he “acted more as a block leader than as President of the Chamber of Deputies,” and said that although they will not support his re-election, he hopes for an improvement in “relations” between political forces. In turn, the president of the Unidos interblock, Gisela Scaglia, supported the election of Martín Menem and called for “dialogue” between political forces and for her to be recognized as the third Vice President. The Riojan Martín Menem was re-elected President of the Chamber of Deputies by a wide majority with the support of Libertad Avanza and allied blocks, and with the abstention of Unión por la Patria and the left.