María Florencia López (born 26 February 1980) is an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

politician who has been Vice Governor of La Rioja since 2019, under Governor Ricardo Quintela. She previously served as '' intendenta'' (mayor) of Arauco from 2015 to 2019, and as a member of the

provincial legislature In South Africa, a provincial legislature is the legislative branch of the government of a province.'' Chapter 6: Provinces'', Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. The provincial legislatures are unicameral and vary in size from 30 ...

for Arauco from 2011 to 2015. López belongs to the

Justicialist Party The Justicialist Party ( es, Partido Justicialista, ; abbr. PJ) is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism. Current president Alberto Fernández belongs to the Justicialist Party (and has, since 2021, served ...

Early life

López was born on 26 February 1980 in the city of La Rioja. Her family moved to Aimogasta when she was six years old, and she finished high school there. In 1997, she moved to San Miguel de Tucumán to study law at the

National University of Tucumán The National University of Tucumán ( es, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, UNT) is an Argentine national university located in Tucumán Province and the largest in Argentina's northwest region. Founded on 25 May 1914 in San Miguel de Tucumán ...

; she graduated at age 22 with the best average score among women in the year 2001. In 2003 she earned a notary's degree and began working in her own private practice. In 2005, she moved back to Aimogasta and began her political activism.

Political career

In 2007, López was elected to the deliberative council of

Arauco Department Arauco is a department of La Rioja Province, Argentina. Population It had 723 inhabitants at the 2001 census, an increase of 16% since the last census in 1991, when it had 623 inhabitants. Settlements * Aimogasta * Arauco * Bañado de los Pan ...

on the

list. Upon the end of her term in 2011, she was elected to the

Legislature of La Rioja The Legislature of La Rioja ( es, Legislatura de la provincia de La Rioja), also sometimes referred to as the Legislative Function (''Función Legislativa''), is the unicameral legislative body of La Rioja Province, in Argentina. It comprises 36 ...

as one of Arauco's three representatives. In 2012, she was elected vice president of the women's wing of the La Rioja Justicialist Party. In 2015, she was elected '' intendenta'' (mayor) of Arauco, becoming the first woman to ever hold the post. Two years later, she ran for one of La Rioja's three seats in the National Senate as the second candidate in the Frente Justicialista Riojano list, behind incumbent senator

Carlos Menem Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. H ...

. The FJR list came second with 45.50%, and so only Menem was elected for the minority seat as per the Senate's limited voting system. Toward the end of her term as mayor, in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, López was selected to be the running mate of Ricardo Quintela in the

Frente de Todos The Frente de Todos (translated as "Everyone's Front") is a coalition of Peronist and Kirchnerist political parties in Argentina formed to support President Alberto Fernández and Vice President Cristina Kirchner. Fernández won the 2019 gene ...

gubernatorial ticket. Quintela and López won with 44.89% of the vote, and, on 11 December 2019, she was sworn in as Vice Governor of La Rioja. López was succeeded in her post as mayor of Arauco by her sister, Virginia López. Carlos Menem died on 14 February 2021, two years before the end of his fourth term as senator. As the second candidate in the 2017 FJR list, López was next in line to fill in Menem's vacancy in the Senate, but she declined to assume the position as she wished to remain in office as vice governor of La Rioja. In November 2021, following the retirement of

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

minister

Elena Highton de Nolasco Elena Inés Highton de Nolasco (born 7 December 1942) is an Argentine lawyer, judge and a former member of Supreme Court of Justice of Argentina, having served from 2004 to 2021. Mrs. Nolasco was born in Lomas de Zamora in Buenos Aires Provi ...

, a group of provincial parliamentarians from across the North-Western region of Argentina backed López to replace Highton's vacancy in the court.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Florencia 1980 births Living people 21st-century Argentine lawyers People from La Rioja Province, Argentina Justicialist Party politicians Mayors of places in Argentina Women mayors of places in Argentina Members of the Legislature of La Rioja Vice Governors of La Rioja Province National University of Tucumán alumni 21st-century Argentine politicians 21st-century Argentine women politicians