The Chamber of Deputies ( es, Cámara de Diputados de la Nación), officially the Honorable Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation, is the
lower house of the
Argentine National Congress ( es, Congreso de la Nación). It is made up of 257 national deputies who are elected in
multi-member constituencies corresponding with the territories of the
23 provinces of Argentina (plus the
Federal Capital
A federal capital is a political entity, often a municipality or capital (political), capital city, that serves as the Seat of government, seat of the federal government. A federal capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the offices ...
) by
party list proportional representation
Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a subset of proportional representation electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected (e.g., elections to parliament) through their position on an electoral list. They can also be use ...
. Elections to the Chamber are held every two years, so that half of its members are up in each election, making it a rare example of
staggered elections
Staggered elections are elections where only some of the places in an elected body are up for election at the same time. For example, United States senators have a six-year term, but they are not all elected at the same time. Rather, elections a ...
used in a lower house.
The
Constitution of Argentina
The Constitution of the Argentine Nation ( es, Constitución de la Nación Argentina) is the basic governing document of Argentina, and the primary source of existing law in Argentina. Its first version was written in 1853 by a constitutional ...
lays out certain attributions that are unique to the Chamber of Deputies. The Chamber holds exclusive rights to levy taxes; to draft troops; and to accuse the
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
, cabinet ministers, and members of the
Supreme Court before the
Senate. Additionally, the Chamber of Deputies receives for consideration bills presented by
popular initiative
In political science, an initiative (also known as a popular initiative or citizens' initiative) is a means by which a petition signed by a certain number of registered voters can force a government to choose either to enact a law or hold a p ...
.
The Chamber of Deputies is presided over by the
President of the Chamber ( es, Presidente de la Cámara), who is deputized by three Vice Presidents. All of them are elected by the chamber itself.
Current composition
It has 257 seats and one-half of the members are elected every two years to serve four-year terms by the people of each district (23
provinces
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
and the
Autonomous City of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South Am ...
) using proportional representation,
D'Hondt formula
The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highest ...
with a 3% of the district registered voters threshold, and the following distribution:
By province
By political groups
130 of the current members of the Chamber of Deputies for the 2021–2023 period were elected in
2019 legislative election, while the remaining 127 were elected in
2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...
. The governing
Frente de Todos coalition, to which President
Alberto Fernández
Alberto Ángel Fernández (; born 2 April 1959) is an Argentine politician, lawyer and professor, serving as president of Argentina since 2019.
Born in Buenos Aires, Fernández attended the University of Buenos Aires, where he earned his law ...
belongs, holds the first minority with 118 deputies, while the biggest opposition alliance,
Juntos por el Cambio
( en, Together for Change) is a centre-right political coalition in Argentina. It was created in 2015 as Cambiemos ( en, Let's Change), and renamed in 2019. It is composed of Republican Proposal, Radical Civic Union, Civic Coalition ARI and ...
, counts with 117 – spread across 10
parliamentary blocs. In addition, a number of provincial parties and alliances count with representation, while smaller parties (such as the leftist
Workers' Left Front, the libertarian
Avanza Libertad and
La Libertad Avanza fronts, and the minor SER party) count with minimal representation.
Requirements
Individuals elected to congress must be at least twenty five years old with at least four years of active citizenship and it has to be naturalized in the province that is being elected to or at least have two years of immediate residency in said province. (Art. 48 of the Argentine Constitution).
History
The Chamber of Deputies was provided for in the
Constitution of Argentina
The Constitution of the Argentine Nation ( es, Constitución de la Nación Argentina) is the basic governing document of Argentina, and the primary source of existing law in Argentina. Its first version was written in 1853 by a constitutional ...
, ratified on May 1, 1853. Eligibility requisites are that members be at least twenty-five years old, and have been a resident of the province they represent for at least two years; as congressional seats are elected at-large, members nominally represent their province, rather than a district.
Otherwise patterned after
Article One of the United States Constitution per legal scholar
Juan Bautista Alberdi
Juan Bautista Alberdi (August 29, 1810 – June 19, 1884) was an Argentine political theorist and diplomat. Although he lived most of his life in exile in Montevideo, Uruguay and in Chile, he influenced the content of the Constitution of Arg ...
's treatise, ''Bases de la Constitución Argentina'', the chamber was originally apportioned in one seat per 33,000 inhabitants. The constitution made no provision for a national
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...
, however, and because the Argentine population doubled every twenty years from 1870 to 1930 as a result of
immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...
(disproportionately benefiting
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
and the
Pampas
The Pampas (from the qu, pampa, meaning "plain") are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all of Uruguay; and Brazi ...
area provinces), censuses were conducted generationally, rather than every decade, until 1947.
Apportionment controversy
The distribution of the Chamber of Deputies is regulated since 1982 by Law 22.847, also called ''Ley Bignone'', enacted by the last Argentine dictator, General
Reynaldo Bignone, ahead of the
1983 general elections. This law established that, initially, each province shall have one deputy per 161,000 inhabitants, with standard rounding; after this is calculated, each province is granted three more deputies. If a province has fewer than five deputies, the number of deputies for that province is increased to reach that minimum.
Controversially, apportionment remains based on the 1980 population census, and has not been modified since 1983; national censuses since then have been conducted in 1991, 2001, and 2010. The minimum of five seat per province allots the smaller ones a disproportionately large representation, as well. Accordingly, this distribution does not reflect Argentina's current population balance.
Presidents of the Chamber
The President of the Chamber is elected by a majority of the Chamber's members. Traditionally, the presidency is held by a member of the party or alliance of the
national executive, though exceptions have occurred, such as in 2001, when the
Peronist Eduardo Camaño
Eduardo Oscar Camaño (born 17 June 1946) is an Argentine Justicialist Party politician. He was in charge of the executive branch in a caretaker capacity, effectively acting as president, for two days between 31 December 2001, and 1 January 200 ...
was elected president of the Chamber during the presidency of the
radical Fernando de la Rúa
Fernando de la Rúa (15 September 19379 July 2019) was an Argentine politician and a member of the Radical Civic Union (UCR) political party who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1999 to 21 December 2001. De la Rúa was born in ...
.
The officeholders for this post since 1983 have been:
Current authorities
Leadership positions include:
See also
*
Argentine Senate
*
Politics of Argentina
The politics of Argentina take place in the framework of what the Constitution defines as a federal presidential representative democratic republic, where the President of Argentina is both Head of State and Head of Government. Legislative pow ...
*
List of legislatures by country
This is a list of legislatures by country. A "legislature" is the generic name for the national parliaments and congresses that act as a plenary general assembly of representatives and that have the power to legislate. All entities included i ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
Chamber of Deputies
National Congress of Argentina