Teresita Luna

Mirtha María Teresita Luna (born 19 February 1964) is an Argentine politician. Formerly a member of the Justicialist Party, she served as Vice Governor of La Rioja Province from 2007 to 2011, and later as a National Senator for La Rioja from 2011 to 2017. In 2019, she left the Justicialist Party and became part of the Cambiemos coalition.

Teresita Luna
Provincial Deputy of La Rioja
Assumed office
10 December 2021
ConstituencyCapital Department
In office
10 December 2005 – 10 December 2007
ConstituencyCapital Department
National Senator
In office
10 December 2011 – 9 December 2017
ConstituencyLa Rioja
Vice Governor of La Rioja
In office
10 December 2007 – 10 December 2011
GovernorLuis Beder Herrera
Preceded byLuis Beder Herrera
Succeeded bySergio Casas
Personal details
Born (1964-02-19) 19 February 1964
Mendoza, Argentina
Political partyJusticialist Party (until 2016)
Evita Movement (2016–2017)
Norte Grande Movement (2017–present)
Other political
affiliations		Front for Victory (2003–2017)
Juntos por el Cambio (2019–present)

Since 2021, she has been a member of the provincial legislature of La Rioja, a position she previously held from 2005 to 2007.

Early life and education

Luna was born in Mendoza on 19 February 1964,[1] and grew up in Chamical, La Rioja. She studied to become a literature professor at the Instituto Superior de Formación Docente Albino Sánchez Barros, in the City of La Rioja.[2]

Political career

Luna became a member of the Justicialist Party (PJ) in 1983.[3] She served in a number of positions in the party, most notably as secretary of women's affairs of the National Party Council from 2007 to 2014, and national secretary of the party from 2008 to 2012.[1]

In 2002, she was appointed as undersecretary of human development and family affairs of La Rioja Province, during the governorship of Ángel Maza. Later, in 2005, she was elected to the Legislature of La Rioja for the Capital Department.[1][4] In the 2007 provincial elections, Luna was the vice-gubernatorial candidate in the Justicialist Party ticket, as the running mate to Luis Beder Herrera. The Beder Herrera–Luna ticket won with over 42% of the vote.[5] She was the first female vice governor of La Rioja.

National Senator

Upon the end of her term as vice governor, in 2011, she ran for one of La Rioja's three seats in the National Senate on the Front for Victory list, as the first candidate in the Front for Victory (FPV) list. The FPV was the second-most voted list in the province, with 33.76% of the vote, granting Luna the sole minority seat as per the Senate's limited voting system. She formed part of the PJ–Front for Victory parliamentary bloc, and presided the Senate commission on tourism.[6]

In 2016, Luna joined the Evita Movement.[3] Having lost the Justicialist Party's support, she ran for re-election in the 2017 legislative election as part of the Norte Grande Movement, a minor provincial party.[7] She landed a distant third place, with 6.9% of the vote, trailing the Cambiemos and Justicialist Party lists.[8] A few days before the general election, she withdrew her candidacy, citing "lobbying" from the provincial PJ as her main cause.[9]

Later career

In the 2019 provincial elections, she once again sought the vice-governorship as the running mate of Julio Martínez in the Juntos por el Cambio list.[10] The Martínez–Luna ticket received less than 31% of the vote, losing against the Justicialist Party ticket of Ricardo Quintela and Florencia López. Following her defeat, in December 2019, she was appointed as secretary of government of the La Rioja municipal government by mayor Olga Inés Brizuela y Doria.[11]

In the 2021 provincial elections, Luna ran for a seat in the provincial legislature as part of Vamos La Rioja (Juntos por el Cambio) in the Capital Department.[12] She was elected with 22.29% of the vote alongside Gustavo Galván.[13]

References
  1. "Mirtha María Teresita Luna". Directorio Legislativo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 22 July 2020.
  2. "Teresita Luna". Tres Líneas (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  3. "Teresita Luna, la riojana que vuelve a "remar" contra Menem y Martínez". Letra P (in Spanish). 17 July 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  4. "Acepta la renuncia presentada por la Prof. Mirtha M. Teresita Luna a la banca de Diputada Provincial por el Dpto. Capital" (PDF). legislaturalarioja.gob.ar (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  5. "Escrutinio Definitivo 2007" (PDF). elecciones.gov.ar (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 September 2011.
  6. "Mirtha María Teresita Luna". senado.gov.ar (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2 August 2017.
  7. "Julio Martínez, Carlos Menem y Teresita Luna encabezan las listas para retener las cinco bancas en juego en La Rioja". Rioja Política (in Spanish). 25 June 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  8. "PASO 2017: El Frente Justicialista mantuvo su ventaja sobre Cambiemos en La Rioja". La Nación (in Spanish). 23 August 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  9. "Teresita Luna anunció que Norte Grande no participará de las elecciones legislativas". Rioja24 (in Spanish). 19 October 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  10. "Julio Martínez lleva como candidata a vice a una exsenadora K". Parlamentario (in Spanish). 9 September 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  11. "Teresita Luna: "hoy la prioridad son los Servicios Públicos"". Vía País (in Spanish). 6 December 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  12. "EN VAMOS LA RIOJA GUSTAVO GALVÁN Y TERE LUNA ENCABEZAN LA LISTA POR CAPITAL". Medios Rioja (in Spanish). 26 September 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  13. "La Rioja: El oficialismo mantiene la mayoría en la cámara baja". Página 12 (in Spanish). 25 November 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
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