President of Argentina

The origins of Argentina as a nation can be traced to 1776, when it was separated by the King Charles III of Spain from the existing Viceroyalty of Peru, creating the new Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. The head of state continued to be the king, but he was represented locally by the viceroy. These viceroys were seldom natives of the country.

By the May Revolution of 25 May 1810, the first Argentine autonomous government, known as the Primera Junta, was formed in Buenos Aires. It was later known as the Junta Grande when representatives from the provinces joined. These early attempts at self-government were succeeded by two Triumvirates and, although the first juntas had presidents, the king of Spain was still regarded as head of state.

Bernardino Rivadavia, the first president of the Argentine Republic

Executive power was still not in the hands of a single person until the position of supreme director was created by the 1813 National Assembly. In 1816, Congress declared independence and composed a constitution. This established the Supreme Director as head of state and vested the position with presidential powers. This constitution gave the supreme director the power of appointing governors of the provinces. Owing to political circumstances, this constitution never came into force, and the central power was dissolved, leaving the country as a federation of provinces.

A new constitution was drafted in 1826. This constitution was the first to create a president, although this office retained the powers described in the 1816 constitution. This constitution did come into force, resulting in the election of the first president, Bernardino Rivadavia. Because of the Cisplatine War, Rivadavia resigned after a short time, and the office was dissolved shortly thereafter.

A civil war between unitarios (unitarians, i.e. Buenos Aires centralists) and federalists ensued in the following decades. At this time, there was no central authority, and the closest to that was the chairman of foreign relations, typically the governor of the Province of Buenos Aires. The last to bear this title was Juan Manuel de Rosas, who in the last years of his governorship was elected Supreme Chief of the Confederation, gaining effective rule of the rest of the country.

In 1852, Rosas was deposed, and a constitutional convention was summoned. This constitution, still in force, established a national federal government, with the office of president. The term was fixed as six years, with no possibility of reelection. The first elected president under the constitution was Justo José de Urquiza, but Buenos Aires seceded from the Argentine Confederation as the State of Buenos Aires. Bartolomé Mitre was the first president of the unified country, when Buenos Aires rejoined the confederation. Thus, Rivadavia, Urquiza, and Mitre are considered the first presidents of Argentina by different historians: Rivadavia for being the first one to use the title, Urquiza for being the first one to rule under the 1853 constitution, and Mitre for being the first president of Argentina under its current national limits.[2]

In 1930, 1943, 1955, 1962, 1966, and 1976, military coups deposed elected presidents. In 1966 and 1976, the federal government was undertaken by a military junta, where power was shared by the chiefs of the armed forces. In 1962, the president of the Senate ruled, but in the other cases, a military chief assumed the title of president.

It is debatable whether these military presidents can properly be called presidents, as there are issues with the legitimacy of their governments. The position of the current Argentine government is that military presidents Jorge Rafael Videla and Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri were explicitly not legitimate presidents. They and their immediate successors were denied the right to a presidential pension after the conclusion of their terms. The status of earlier military presidents, however, remains more uncertain.

The president of the nation has the following powers granted by Constitution (Article 99):

• Is the supreme head of the nation, head of government and is politically responsible for the general administration of the country.
• Issues the instructions and regulations necessary for the execution of the laws of the nation, without altering their spirit with regulatory exceptions.
• Participates in the making of laws under the Constitution, promulgates them and has them published. The Executive Power shall in no case under penalty, and void, issue legislative provisions. Only when exceptional circumstances make it impossible to follow the ordinary procedures foreseen by this Constitution for the enactment of laws, and not try to rules governing criminal matters, taxation, electoral or political party regime, may issue decrees on grounds of necessity and urgency, which will be decided by a general agreement of ministers who shall countersign them together with the head of the cabinet of ministers. The head personally and within ten days submit the decision to the consideration of the Joint Standing Committee, whose composition should respect the proportion of the political representation of each chamber. This commission shall submit its report within ten days to the plenary of each House for its specific treatment, they immediately considered the Chambers. A special law enacted with the absolute majority of all the members of each House shall regulate the procedure and scope of Congress intervention.
• Appoints the judges of the Supreme Court with the Senate by two-thirds of the members present, at a public meeting convened for that purpose. Appoints the other judges of the lower federal courts according to a binding three candidates proposed by the Judiciary Council, with the Senate, in public session, in which the suitability of candidates will be considered. A new appointment, the same consent, it is necessary to keep in under any of those judges, once they reach the age of seventy-five years. All appointments of judges whose age is indicated or over shall be five years and maybe repeated indefinitely, by the same procedure.
• May grant pardons or commute sentences for crimes subject to federal jurisdiction, following a report of the court, except in cases of impeachment by the House of Representatives.
• Grant pensions, retirements, pensions and licenses under the laws of the Nation.
• Appoints and removes ambassadors, ministers plenipotentiary and business with the Senate; alone appoints and removes the chief of cabinet ministers and other cabinet ministers, the officers of his Secretariat, consular agents and employees whose appointments are not otherwise regulated by this Constitution.
• Is the commander in chief of all of the armed forces of the nation. Thus, he/she is the highest ranked officer.
• Annually attends the opening session of the Congress, both Houses assembled for this purpose, this time realising the state of the Nation, on amendments promised by the Constitution, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.
• Attends regular sessions of Congress, or convokes extraordinary sessions when a serious interest order or progress requires.
• Oversees the performance of the duties of the chief of the Ministerial Cabinet as regards the collection of the revenues of the Nation and its investment in accordance with the law or budget of national expenditures.
• Traditionally, the president is the godfather of the seventh sons or the seventh daughters. This tradition came from Tsarist Russia and became law in 1974. A similar tradition is attached to the king and queen of the Belgians.[3][4]

Presidential styles of Alberto Fernández
Reference style	Excelentísimo Señor Presidente de la Nación "His Most Excellent Mister President of the Nation"
Spoken style	Presidente de la Nación "President of the Nation"
Alternative style	Señor Presidente "Mister President"

As of 2015, the president and vice president enjoy a salary paid by the national treasury, which can not be altered during the period of their appointment. During the same period, they may not hold any other office nor receive any other emolument from the nation or from any province. The president's salary is $131,421 Argentine pesos per month.[5]

The Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires is the official workplace of the president and the Quinta de Olivos their official residence. The president is entitled to use its staff and facilities. It has a summer residence in the town of Chapadmalal, in Buenos Aires Province, which is called the Presidential Unit Chapadmalal. The Presidential Guard is responsible for the security of the entire presidential family.

To move the president uses aircraft that are part of the Presidential Air Group:

The main aircraft was a Boeing 757 known as Tango 01 after its military registry: "T-01" (the "T" stands for "Transport", although it is fortuitously pronounced "Tango", as in the Argentine national dance, in the NATO alphabet). The 757 entered the service in 1995 replacing the former T-01, a Boeing 707. The aircraft was nicknamed Virgen de Luján after Argentina's patron saint. The Tango 01 757 has been an object of political contention for the last decade (and a political campaign hot-topic during the 1999 presidential election), with many politicians and media commentators denouncing this aircraft as an unnecessary and expensive luxury prone to abuse by presidents, their families, friends and political allies. The Tango 01 was defunct in 2016 and eventually replaced in 2023 by a Boeing 757-200 in VIP design, designated ARG-01.

The current presidential fleet also includes two Fokker F28 (T-02 and T-03) (one always in service) and Learjet 60 (T-10). The Learjet is also used by the Air Force chief of staff.

As helicopters, a Sikorsky S-70 (H-01^pic) and two Sikorsky S-76 (H-02^pic and H-03^pic) also make-up the fleet, with an additional Air Force Bell 212, as needed. During Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández administration AAP used different aircraft for their global flights, most notably Boeing 747 loaned from Aerolíneas Argentinas and a private Bombardier Global 5000.[6]

• Presidential amenities
• 
  Casa Rosada
• 
  The president's office
• 
  Quinta de Olivos
• 
  Presidential armchair
• 
  Audi A8
• 
  ARG-01

Following military coups that overthrew the constitutional government were de facto military presidents in 1930–1932, 1943–1946, 1955–1958, 1966–1973 and 1976–1983 that brought in addition to the powers of the president also corresponding to Congress. The subsequent analysis of the validity of their actions led to the subsequent formulation of the doctrine of de facto governments.

That doctrine was nullified by the constitutional reform of 1994, which added Article 36 (see below).

Article 29 of the constitution of 1853 had an article that considered the usurpation of public power as 'treason', but was referred to the de jure rulers. For this reason the constitutional reform of 1994 included Article 36 which says:[7]

"Article 36. This Constitution shall rule even when its observance is interrupted by acts of force against the institutional order and the democratic system. These acts shall be irreparably null.

"Their authors shall be punished with the penalty foreseen in Section 29, disqualified in perpetuity from holding public offices and excluded from the benefits of pardon and commutation of sentences.

"Those who, as a consequence of these acts, were to assume the powers foreseen for the authorities of this Constitution or for those of the provinces, shall be punished with the same penalties and shall be civil and criminally liable for their acts. The respective actions shall not be subject to prescription.

"All citizens shall have the right to oppose resistance to those committing the acts of force stated in this section.

"He who, procuring personal enrichment, incurs in serious fraudulent offence against the Nation shall also attempt against the democratic system, and shall be disqualified to hold public office for the term specified by law.

"Congress shall enact a law on public ethics which shall rule the exercise of public office."

In summary, the article states:

• Absolute nullity of the acts issued by the government installed by force;
• The authors shall be punished as traitors;
• These crimes are barred and the authors can not receive the benefit of the amnesty;
• Every citizen has the right to resistance against these acts of force.

• History of Argentina
• Politics of Argentina
• List of vice presidents of Argentina
• List of heads of state of Argentina

• Constitution of the Argentine Nation (PDF) – via biblioteca.jus.gov.ar.
• Mendelevich, Pablo (2010). El final: Cómo dejan el gobierno los presidentes argentinos (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Ediciones B. ISBN 978-987-627-166-0.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Presidents of Argentina.

• Official website (in Spanish)
• ElHistoriador.com.ar (presidents and ministries of the Argentine Nation).
• Apodos: la historia también tiene sentido del humor (in Spanish)