Sergio Casas (born 13 January 1971) is an Argentine politician who was

Governor of La Rioja Province The Governor of La Rioja ( es, Gobernador de la Provincia de La Rioja) is a citizen of La Rioja Province in Argentina holding the office of governor for the corresponding period. The governor is elected alongside a vice-governor. Currently the go ...

from 2015 to 2019. He previously served as Vice Governor and as a member of the La Rioja provincial legislature. Since

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 ...

, he has been a National Deputy.

Political career

Casas was a local deputy for the La Rioja Province from 1995 to 2011. He served as vice-governor from 2011 to 2015, under

Luis Beder Herrera Luis Beder Herrera (born 26 May 1951) is an Argentine Justicialist Party (PJ) politician. He was the governor of La Rioja Province from 2007 to 2015. Born in Campanas, La Rioja, Herrera graduated as a lawyer in 1976 from the National Univer ...

. He won the primary elections in the local

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 ...

to run as governor, defeating the ministers Javier Tineo and Néstor Bosetti; Bosetti would run as his candidate for vicegovernor. He was elected

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

in 2015 with the 53% of the vote. The candidate of the

Radical Civic Union The Radical Civic Union ( es, Unión Cívica Radical, UCR) is a centrist and social-liberal political party in Argentina. It has been ideologically heterogeneous, ranging from social liberalism to social democracy. The UCR is a member of the So ...

denounced

electoral fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

, but eventually accepted Casas' victory. The province allows for a re-election, but as he served as vice-governor and governor in two consecutive terms, he may not run again in 2019. He acknowledges both the former governor Beder Herrera and the former president

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner (; born 19 February 1953), often referred to by her initials CFK, is an Argentine lawyer and politician who has served as the Vice President of Argentina since 2019. She also served as the President ...

as political leaders. Casas attended the presidential inauguration of

Mauricio Macri Mauricio Macri (; born 8 February 1959) is an Argentine businessman and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 2015 to 2019. He has been the leader of the Republican Proposal (PRO) party since its founding in 2005. He previou ...

on December 10, 2015, in spite of the instructions from the

Front for Victory The Front for Victory ( es, Frente para la Victoria, FPV) was a centre-left Peronist electoral alliance in Argentina, and is formally a faction of the Justicialist Party. Former presidents Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner wer ...

to avoid doing so. He then returned to La Rioja, to take office as governor. He had a personal meeting with Macri shortly after they took office, and they talked about the problems of the province. They agreed in the need to improve the infrastructure of the province. In contrast with Beder Herrera, Casas received the local mayors and legislators of other political parties, to arrange joint actions on behalf of the province. He announced that he would promote the production of tomatoes. He made an amendment to the constitution of La Rioja, to be able to run for a new term in 2019. It was followed by a

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

: only 43.95% of the registered voters attended it, and of those 25.27% supported the amendment and 17.90% rejected it. However, the local parties did not agree on the interpretation of the results.

Cambiemos ( 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 ...

, the main opposition alliance, considered that Casas should have obtained 35% of the vote to approve the amendment, and Casas considered that it was instead the explicit rejection the one that should have achieved such 35%. As a result, they did not agree if the amendment should be in force or not.

References

External links

Government of La Rioja
{{DEFAULTSORT:Casas, Sergio Governors of La Rioja Province, Argentina Vice Governors of La Rioja Province Justicialist Party politicians Living people People from La Rioja Province, Argentina 1971 births Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in La Rioja Members of the Legislature of La Rioja