Constitution

Argentina 1853 Constitution (reinstated 1983, reviewed 1994)

Table of Contents

CHAPTER II. THE SENATE

Article 54

The Senate shall be composed of three Senators from each Province and three from the City of Buenos Aires, elected directly and jointly, with two seats corresponding to the political party obtaining the greatest number of votes, and the remaining one to the political party receiving the next largest number of votes. Each Senator shall have one vote.

Article 55

The requirements to be elected Senator are: to have attained the age of thirty years, to have been a citizen of the Nation for six years, to enjoy an annual income of two thousand pesos or its equivalent, and to be a native of the Province that elects him or been in residence in the Province during the previous two years.

Article 56

Senators serve six years in the exercise of their office, and may be re-elected indefinitely; but the Senate shall renew itself by one-third of the electoral districts every two years.

Article 57

The Vice President of the Nation shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote except in the case of a tie in the voting.

Article 58

The Senate shall appoint a provisional president to preside over it in the event of the absence of the Vice President, or when the latter exercises the functions of President of the Nation.

Article 59

The Senate is charged with trying in public trial the persons impeached by the Chamber of Deputies, and its members shall take an oath when sitting for that purpose. When the person accused is the President of the Nation, the Senate shall be presided over by the President of the Supreme Court. No person shall be declared guilty except by a two-thirds majority of the members present.

Article 60

The judgment shall go no further than to remove the accused person from office, and in addition declare him incapable of holding any employment of honor, trust, or pay of the Nation. But the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be subject to indictment, trial, and punishment according to law before the ordinary courts.

Article 61

It is also within the power of the Senate whether to authorize the President of the Nation to declare a state of siege, in one or several districts of the Republic, in case of foreign invasion.

Article 62

When a vacancy occurs in the Senate through death, resignation or other cause, the Government unit affected by the vacancy shall proceed immediately to the election of a new member.

Get more fascinating contents like this on Facebook.