Amid the climate of institutional tension caused by the recent arrest of Cristina Kirchner and the commotion caused by the Supreme Court's ruling, Bonaerense Peronism is once again pushing its old aspiration: to reinstate indefinite reelections for provincial legislators. This Tuesday, the Senate of the Province of Buenos Aires will resume its sessions after having suspended the last call and could address the controversial bill that would allow senators and deputies to remain in power indefinitely.
The ruling party has a committee report and needs a simple majority in the chamber, something that will depend on the support it manages to obtain from some opposition sectors in order to secure a quorum. The move gains significance with less than a month before the deadline for submitting lists for the September 7 elections, in which a considerable portion of legislators from different groups will not be able to run due to the current limits.
Currently, Unión por la Patria has 21 senators out of a total of 46, but in the last attempt to move forward with the bill, the bloc showed cohesion except for Senator Sofía Vanelli from the Frente Renovador aligned with Sergio Massa. Paradoxically, her group was one of the driving forces behind the 2016 law that limits consecutive reelections.
The internal debate within Peronism itself is significant: weeks ago, a sector aligned with Kirchnerist mayors had reached a certain consensus to move forward with indefinite reelection only for legislators. However, the provincial Executive, headed by Axel Kicillof, submitted a bill that also included mayors—which triggered an internal conflict and derailed the agreement.
