Is there a secret move that remains unrevealed?
The nomination by the Executive Branch of Judge Ariel Lijo and Professor Manuel García-Mansilla for the Supreme Court of Justice has even
perplexed
sectors of the ruling party itself. No matter how much they seek a solution,
they cannot find a way for the documents to advance
in the Senate, especially that of the controversial federal judge.
It is known that Lijo's nomination went down badly among some libertarian senators -
Francisco Paoltroni
from Formosa came out to publicly criticize his nomination - and also among key allies of the PRO, such as
Luis Juez from Córdoba.
That the candidates
are not to the palate
of all the members of the La Libertad Avanza bench probably does not concern the Casa Rosada too much. At the end of the day, because they are pro-government they have
little chance of showing autonomy, especially on a politically sensitive issue.
The problem is that with its 7 own senators the Government can do absolutely nothing.
For the approval of the documents,
two-thirds of the members of the upper house are needed
, that is, the vote of 48 senators. There is speculation that this figure may eventually drop due to absences - two-thirds of those present are needed - but the truth is that in sessions of this nature, absences are rare.
There could be an agreement for the absence, just to speculate, of two senators who find it
indigestible
to vote for one candidate or another. But with 70 senators present (that is, two less than those who make up the Chamber), 47 votes will be needed.
The number will always be too high.
Manuel García-Mansilla and Ariel Lijo.
The only way the Government can get closer to the 48 is with an agreement with Peronism, which has the first minority with its 33 senators. Even with an agreement with all the rest of the Senate blocks, the Government would still need at least 9 PJ senators to vote in favor of the specifications.
From the moment the Government announced the candidacies of Lijo and García-Mansilla, there are strong versions that this negotiation with Peronism would already exist.
But there are buts.
And they warn it from the Peronist bench itself.
The block
is not a homogeneous body nor does it have an undisputed leader
who is obeyed with closed eyes. This may happen with some of the senators aligned with Cristina Kirchner, who are around 13. But others respond to governors and the rest are practically "self-employed."
Examples: Would Juan Manzur
from Tucumán
vote what he is told from outside? And
Sergio Uñac from San Juan?
And Claudia Ledesma Abdala from Santiago
, would she vote if her husband, the powerful governor Gerardo Zamora, did not participate in the negotiation
? It is not linear. Although she is not a senator, will
Sergio Massa,
UxP's last presidential candidate, not have a seat in that discussion?
"Nobody said anything to me"
Even before the nominations of the two candidates, the Justicialist Party
had begun to discuss the question of the leadership of their blocks in both chambers of Congress.
At the start of the reorganization of the party - Alberto Fernández was recently removed from the party presidency - it aims to align the blocks of Deputies and the Senate with the political leadership of the PJ.
In the Peronist bloc of the Senate they say that the decision on what to do with Lijo and García-Mansilla will be made internally - that is, horizontally - and that until now no one has tried to give any directive from outside. In response to questions from his peers, the head of the Citizen Unit interblock,
José Mayans
, responds the same:
"No one said anything to me."
The senate in session, last Thursday the 14th. Photo: Mariana Nedelcu.
Those close to
Cristina Kirchner
ignore the versions that the former president was aware of Lijo's nomination in advance, which would indicate some negotiation.
"You have to be responsible when appointing such an important position. The rumors that exist are just that. Rumors," said sources close to CFK. And they closed in the style of the former president:
"No comments"
.
For his part, the Minister of Justice,
Mariano Cúneo Libarona
, recently denied a journalistic version that suggested that there would be "a pact of impunity" between Javier Milei and the former president to appoint Lijo to the Court.
There then arises the question of whether the Government made progress in any negotiations with a sector of Peronism and that this led it to announce the candidacies. If so, there would be
political incompetence:
the President's political operators will still have to agree with many more spaces, just several that show rejection of Lijo's document.
There is something else on the table for this eventual negotiation. In Peronism they say that the seats in the Court could be part of a broader conversation, which could include the
appointment of a new attorney of the Nation
- since 2017
Eduardo Casal
has held the position on an interim basis - and the
Ombudsman
, vacant since 2009.