Javier Milei
anticipated this in the campaign that led him to the presidency, aware that - whatever the result - he would have legislative weakness.
The then candidate already explained then that, in the event that he did not gather the necessary votes in Congress to push the 540 degree changes that he intends to promote
, he would appeal to a plebiscite on the initiatives.
After the failure of the omnibus law, the President and the Cabinet
are considering the possibility of promoting a non-binding popular consultation
to pressure the legislators who rejected the basic law.
“All constitutional tools are being evaluated, it will be decided to take the most correct path or the one that has the greatest speed,” said presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni.
The Government rules out the possibility of resorting to a binding plebiscite, an alternative contemplated in Article 40 of the Constitution, but which must be called by Congress. “It is not an option, because they would block it beforehand,” they maintain in Balcarce 50.
The variant in which they think about the Executive would have the purpose of
putting pressure on opponents of the omnibus law
.
“When a bill submitted to non-binding popular consultation obtains the affirmative vote of the absolute majority of valid votes cast, it
must be dealt with by the National Congress
, being automatically incorporated into the parliamentary work plan of the Chamber of Deputies of the session following the date of proclamation of the result of the election by the electoral authority,” states law 25,432.
The times of a consultation
The need for a quick response, to which the presidential spokesperson alluded, would also
conspire against the alternative of a consultation
.
It must be called between 60 and 120 days before its announcement in the Official Gazette.
In addition to the possibility of
a defeat that would further weaken the Government
, among the libertarian objections to this option is the high cost of political propaganda that a popular consultation would mean and the organization of the election that would fall on the national State
just when the The President repeats over and over again that “there is no money
. ”
Milei had already threatened to call a
popular consultation if the Mega-DNU was not approved.
The last plebiscite that was held in Argentina was in 1984, during the government of Ricardo Alfonsín, to see if the Peace Treaty with Chile over the Beagle Channel was accepted or rejected.
"Javier already said that he is going to plebiscite many issues. Now, if the deputies are not up to the task and do not support the issues, who are they representing? What interests? I think that is going to be the great debate," he said months ago. behind the deputy governor of LLA
Carolina Píparo, now targeted by the ruling party
for having voted against some sections of the law.
The call for consultation has limits, according to numerous constitutional lawyers. They maintain that a popular consultation cannot be held on criminal matters, nor on issues that require a special majority in Congress or are the powers of any of the Chambers, such as tax issues for Deputies (which the project included) and Co-participation issues for the Senate.