Argentine Congress to Elect Interim President Friday

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, December 21, 2001

Argentine Congress to Elect Interim President Friday

Argentina's Congress is set to meet on Friday to elect an interim head of state to serve out the term of former President Fernando de la Rua, which ends in December 2003.

Argentina's Congress is set to meet on Friday to elect an interim head of state to serve out the term of former President Fernando de la Rua, which ends in December 2003.

De la Rua resigned Thursday following a day of street violence and fruitless efforts to form a coalition with the opposition Peronist party.

The opposition-controlled Congress called a legislative assembly for Friday to elect an interim president to succeed de la Rua.

"Tomorrow ... the only issue will be to accept the resignation of the current president and to designate the new president," Jose Luis Gioja, senator from the opposition Peronist party, which controls the Congress, said.

According to Argentine law, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies will convene a joint session within 48 hours of the resignation of the president to select an interim president from among the country's legislators and 24 provincial governors.

And before an interim president is elected, a caretaker president will be appointed to serve the period between de la Rua' s resignation and the election.

Normally, the vice president would take over as the caretaker president, but since designated vice president vice president Carlos Alvarez already resigned in 2000, Ramon Puerta, leader of the Peronist party and president of the Senate, is expected to take up the job.

By law, the new president must be elected by a majority vote, and if there is no winner on the first vote, a runoff will be held between the two with the highest number of ballots.

De la Rua formally tendered his resignation to the Congress on Thursday, taking responsibility for the country's failing economy.

The former president came under fire as the South American nation's economy crumbled amid violent street protests, with Buenos Aires trying to stave off default on its public debt amounting to 132 billion U.S. dollars.

Street protests and widespread disturbance across the county, triggered by the government's austerity policies, have left at least 20 people dead and more than 150 injured, in the worst social unrest in more than a decade in the country.

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