Argentina's Congress to Name Another New President

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, January 02, 2002

Argentina's Congress to Name Another New President

Argentina's Congress began a special session on Tuesday that is widely expected to name Eduardo Duhalde, an ex-provincial governor on the populist wing of the Peronist Party, as a new president to try to save the nation from a four-year recession.

After Sunday's resignation of a second president in a week amid growing street protests, the Peronist Party that controls Congress proposed Duhalde, a former presidential candidate and godfather figure in the party, to lead Argentina to 2003.

Counting two provisional appointments, Duhalde would be the fifth president in two weeks in a sign of the political chaos that has added to the woes of Latin America's third largest economy, which has already suspended foreign debt payments.

If elected, Duhalde will face the daunting task of leading Argentina out of a harrowing financial crisis decimating its proud middle class, which is growing violent in its protests against politicians seen as distant and corrupt.

Near a heavily-guarded Congress, riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at dozens of leftist militants and Duhalde supporters who battled each other along narrow streets.

The last two men to occupy the presidency failed. Looting and riots in which 27 people were killed forced Fernando de la Rua -- his coalition government shattered by the stress of 18 percent unemployment and a run on banks -- to resign on Dec. 20 only halfway through his four-year term.

His interim replacement, Adolfo Rodriguez Saa, stopped payments on Argentina's $132 billion foreign debt and resigned when his own Peronist Party turned on him after another wave of violent protests in which looters burned furniture in Congress.

Two lawmakers served as provisional 48-hour presidents.

``I don't think politicians realize the tremendous chaos the country is going through right now,'' Rodriguez Saa, who quit late on Sunday after only a week on the job, told local radio.

While one wing of the fractious Peronists favored calling general elections in March for a new president, Duhalde appeared to have sufficient backing from his own ranks and the opposition Radical Party to be Argentina's next leader.

``We have the support of the Radicals,'' said a spokesman for Jose Luis Gioja, the head of the Peronist bloc of senators pushing Duhalde. ``It was easier to get their support than from some sectors within our own party.''

Whoever is named will take the reins from Eduardo Camano, head of the lower house of Congress who is now provisional president. Ramon Puerta, the head of the Senate, served as provisional president before Rodriguez Saa took over.

70 YEARS OF TURMOIL

Duhalde, a senator from Argentina's richest and most indebted province of Buenos Aires who was crushed by De la Rua in 1999 presidential elections, favors protection of local industry and public works jobs to tackle unemployment.

His term as governor of Buenos Aires was marred by a heavy debt run-up and widespread allegations of corruption, unlikely to sit well with many weary Argentines.

``No to Duhalde. Elections now,'' read pamphlets scattered across a Buenos Aires park after New Year's celebrations.

Political turmoil has been a constant in Argentina for decades as the country tumbled from the world's seventh-richest in the 1930s to what many now see as a third-world pariah in global financial markets.

A run on banks amid fears of a currency devaluation, which would instantly bankrupt thousands of Argentines indebted in dollars, led De la Rua's government to slap curbs on banks limiting people to just $1,000 per month in cash withdrawals from their accounts.

Violent street protests demanded the repeal of the banking restrictions, but economists say that would spell instant closure for many Argentine banks.

Argentina's decade-old currency peg, which makes one peso equal to one dollar, is also considered on the brink of collapse. The peso already trades at half its theoretical value in neighboring Brazil and Uruguay.

But polls show an overwhelming majority of Argentines want to keep the peg, even though many hold it responsible for making the cost of living higher than some European countries when Argentina's average salary is only $600 a month.

Rodriguez Saa's decision to stop paying part of Argentina's $132 billion public debt laid the groundwork for what would be the biggest sovereign debt default in history.

Argentine Ruling Party Denies Pressuring Interim President to Quit

Chinese Embassy in Argentina Warns Chinese Emigrants to Watch out for Security

Argentina's Peronist Party Proposes Duhalde as President