Argentine Senate

For provincial legislatures, see List of provincial legislatures in Argentina.

Honorable Senate of the Argentine Nation Honorable Senado de la Nación Argentina
2023–2025 period
Type
Type	Upper house of the National Congress of Argentina
Term limits	None
Leadership
President of the Senate	Victoria Villarruel, LLA since 10 December 2023
Provisional President	Bartolomé Abdala, LLA since 13 December 2023
First Minority Leader	José Mayans, UP since 10 December 2019
Second Minority Leader	Eduardo Vischi, UCR–JxC since 10 December 2023
Structure
Seats	72 (List)
Political groups	Government (13)   LLA (7)   PRO (6) Independents (26)   UCR (13)   Federal Change (4)   Federal Unity (3)   SER (2)   Federal Innovation (2)   JSRN (1)   For Social Justice (1) Opposition (33)   UP (33)
Length of term	6 years
Elections
Voting system	Limited voting Party-list proportional representation
Last election	22 October 2023 (24 seats)
Next election	19 October 2025
Meeting place
Chamber of Senators, Congress Palace, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Website
senado.gob.ar

The Alfredo Palacios Senate Office Building

The Honorable Senate of the Argentine Nation (Spanish: Honorable Senado de la Nación Argentina) is the upper house of the National Congress of Argentina.

Overview

The National Senate was established by the Argentine Confederation on July 29, 1854, pursuant to Articles 46 to 54 of the 1853 Constitution. There are 72 members: three for each province and three for the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. The number of senators per province was raised from two to three following the 1994 amendment of the Argentine Constitution as well as the addition of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires' senators. Those changes took effect following the May 14, 1995, general elections.

Senators are elected to six-year terms by direct election on a provincial basis, with the party with the most votes being awarded two of the province's senate seats and the second-place party receiving the third seat. Historically, senators were indirectly elected to nine-year terms by each provincial legislature. These provisions were abolished in the 1994 constitutional amendment, and the first direct elections to the Senate took effect in 2001. Currently one-third of the members are elected every two years; there are no term limits.

The vice president of the republic is ex officio president of the Senate, with a casting vote in the event of a tie. In practice, the provisional president presides over the chamber most of the time.

The Senate must obtain quorum to deliberate, this being an absolute majority. It has the power to approve bills passed by the Chamber of Deputies, call for joint sessions with the lower house or special sessions with experts and interested parties, and submit bills for the president's signature; bills introduced in the Senate must, in turn, be approved by the Chamber of Deputies for their submittal to the president. The Senate must introduce any changes to federal revenue sharing policies, ratify international treaties, approve changes to constitutional or federal criminal laws, as well as confirm or impeach presidential nominees to the cabinet, the judiciary, the armed forces, and the diplomatic corps, among other federal posts.

There are twenty-four standing committees made up of fifteen members each, namely:

• Agreements (confirmation of federal nominees)
• Constitutional Affairs
• Foreign Affairs and Worship
• Justice and Criminal Affairs
• General Legislation
• Budget and Finance
• Administrative and Municipal Affairs
• National Defense
• Domestic Security and Drug Trafficking
• National Economy and Investment
• Industry and Trade
• Regional Economies, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
• Labor and Social Security
• Agriculture, Cattle Raising and Fishing
• Education, Culture, Science and Technology
• Rights and Guarantees
• Mining, Energy and Fuels
• Health and Sports
• Infrastructure, Housing and Transport
• Systems, Media and Freedom of Speech
• Environment and Human Development
• Population and Human Development
• Federal Revenue Sharing
• Tourism.

Requirements

According to Section 55 of the Argentine Constitution, candidates for the Argentine Senate must:

• be at least 30 years old
• have been a citizen of Argentina for six years
• be native to the province of his office, or have been a resident of that province for two years.

Composition

Main article: List of current Argentine senators

Inter-bloc		Bloc	President
	Union for the Homeland (33)	National People's Front (17)	José Mayans
		Citizen Unity (16)	Juliana Di Tullio
	Radical Civic Union (13)		Eduardo Vischi
	La Libertad Avanza (7)		Ezequiel Atauche
	We Do Federal Coalition (7)	Federal Change (4)	Juan Carlos Romero
		Federal Unity (3)	Carlos Espínola
	PRO Front (6)		Luis Juez
	Federal Innovation (3)	Front for the Renewal of Concord (2)	Carlos Omar Arce
		Together We Are Río Negro (1)	Mónica Esther Silva
	For Santa Cruz (2)		José María Carambia
	For Social Justice (1)		Beatriz Ávila
Source: senado.gob.ar (last update: 20 November 2023)

Senate leadership

The titular president of the Senate is the vice president of Argentina. However, day-to-day leadership of the Senate is exercised by the provisional president.

Current leadership positions include:

Title	Officeholder	Caucus	Province
President of the Senate	Victoria Villarruel	La Libertad Avanza	City of Buenos Aires
Provisional President	Bartolomé Abdala	La Libertad Avanza	San Luis
Vice President	Vacant	Union for the Homeland	—
First Vice President	Carolina Losada	Radical Civic Union	Santa Fe
Second Vice President	Alejandra Vigo	Federal Unity	Córdoba
Parliamentary Secretary	Agustín Giustinian	—
Administrative Secretary	María Laura Izzo
First Minority Leader	José Mayans	Union for the Homeland	Formosa
Second Minority Leader	Alfredo Cornejo	Radical Civic Union	Mendoza

See also

• List of current Argentine senators
• Argentine Chamber of Deputies
• List of former Argentine senators
• List of legislatures by country

External links

• Official website