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Argentine Senate Senado
2017–2019 period
Type
Type	Upper house of the National Congress of Argentina
Leadership
President of the Senate	Gabriela Michetti, PRO since 10 December 2015
Provisional President	Federico Pinedo, PRO since 3 December 2015
First Minority Leader	Miguel Ángel Pichetto, PJ since 10 December 2001
Second Minority Leader	Ángel Rozas, UCR since 3 December 2015
Structure
Seats	72 (List)
Political groups	Government (25)      Cambiemos (25) Opposition (47)      Argentina Federal (24)      Frente para la Victoria-PJ (9)      Parlamentario Federal (5)      Unidad Justicialista (2)      Civic Front for Santiago (2)      Misiones (2)      Others (3)
Elections
Voting system	Limited voting
Last election	22 October 2017
Next election	2019
Meeting place
Chamber of Senators, Congress Palace, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Website
Senado

The Alfredo Palacios Senate Office Building

The Argentine Senate (Spanish: Honorable Senado de la Nación Argentina; lit. "Honourable Senate of the Argentine Nation") is the upper house of the National Congress of Argentina.

Overview

The National Senate was established by the Argentine Confederation on July 29, 1854, pursuant to Articles 46 to 54 of the 1853 Constitution.^[1] There are 72 members: three for each province and three for the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. The number of senators per province was raised from two to three following the 1994 amendment of the Argentine Constitution, and the change took effect following the May 14, 1995, general elections.

Senators are elected to six-year terms by direct election on a provincial basis, with the party with the most votes being awarded two of the province's senate seats and the second-place party receiving the third seat. Historically, Senators were indirectly elected to nine-year terms by each provincial legislature. These provisions were abrogated by a 1994 constitutional amendment, and direct elections to the Senate took effect in 2001. Currently one-third of the members are elected every two years. One-third of the provinces hold senatorial elections every two years; there are no term limits.

The Vice President of the Republic is ex officio President of the Senate, with a casting vote in the event of a tie. In practice, the Provisional President presides over the chamber most of the time.

The Senate must obtain quorum to deliberate, this being an absolute majority. It has the power to approve bills passed by the Chamber of Deputies, call for joint sessions with the Lower House or special sessions with experts and interested parties, and submit bills for the president's signature; bills introduced in the Senate must, in turn, be approved by the Lower House for their submittal to the president. The Senate must introduce any changes to federal revenue sharing policies, ratify international treaties, approve changes to constitutional or federal criminal laws, as well as confirm or impeach presidential nominees to the cabinet, the judiciary, the armed forces, and the diplomatic corps, among other federal posts.^[2]

There are twenty-four standing committees made up of
fifteen members each, namely:^[2]

• Agreements (confirmation of federal nominees)


• Constitutional Affairs


• Foreign Affairs and Worship


• Justice and Criminal Affairs


• General Legislation


• Budget and Finance


• Administrative and Municipal Affairs


• National Defense


• Domestic Security and Drug Trafficking


• National Economy and Investment


• Industry and Trade


• Regional Economies, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises


• Labor and Social Security


• Agriculture, Cattle Raising and Fishing


• Education, Culture, Science and Technology


• Rights and Guarantees


• Mining, Energy and Fuels


• Health and Sports


• Infrastructure, Housing and Transport


• Systems, Media and Freedom of Speech


• Environment and Human Development


• Population and Human Development


• Federal Revenue Sharing


• Tourism.

Requirements

According to Section 55 of the Argentine Constitution, candidates for the Argentine Senate must:

• be at least 30 years old


• have been a citizen of Argentina for six years


• be native to the province of his office, or have been a resident of that province for two years.

Composition

See List of current members of the Argentine Senate

All data from official website.^[3]

The current members of the Senate were elected in 2013, 2015 and 2017.

Senate leadership

The titular President of the Senate is the Vice President of Argentina. However, day to day leadership of the Senate is exercised by the Provisional President.

Current leadership positions include:^[4]

Title	Officeholder	Caucus	Province
President of the Senate	Gabriela Michetti	Republican Proposal	Autonomous City of Buenos Aires
Provisional President	Federico Pinedo	Republican Proposal	Autonomous City of Buenos Aires
Vice President	Gerardo Zamora	Civic Front for Santiago	Santiago del Estero
First Vice President	Juan Carlos Marino	Radical Civic Union	La Pampa
Second Vice President	Adolfo Rodríguez Saá	Federal Commitment	San Luis
Parliamentary Secretary	Juan Pedro Tunessi	N/A
Administrative Secretary	Helio Rebot
First Minority Leader	Miguel Ángel Pichetto	Justicialist Party	Río Negro (Argentina)
Second Minority Leader	Ángel Rozas	Radical Civic Union	Chaco

See also

• List of current Argentine senators


• Argentine Chamber of Deputies


• List of former Argentine Senators


• List of legislatures by country

References

External links

• 
  senado.gov.ar – Senate of Argentina

Coordinates: 34°36′38″S 58°23′28″W / 34.6105°S 58.3910°W / -34.6105; -58.3910