Dec 08, 2007
Opposition Takes Over Argentine Congress, Talk Of Impeachment
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
The newly elected Argentine Congress takes over on December 10th and for the first time in six years, the Kirchners and their allies will be in the minority. The opposition will chair 25 of the 40 committees as well as holding a majority of the seats in the other 15 committees. Even though the opposition did not bring up the idea of impeachment, when asked about the possibility of an impeachment of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, they said it was not out of the realm of possibility.
The opposition parties are most upset about alleged acts of corruption not only by Mr. and Mrs. Kirchner themselves, whose net worth multiplied several times since taking office, but also by the unions allied with them. The greatest public outrage occurred over fake pharmaceuticals managed by the union's social security system that distributed the fake medicines to cancer patients, children, and the elderly.
Impeachment is a possibility, but certainly not a probability. Even if articles of impeachment were introduced, it would be a very long process and President Kirchmer would probably be up for reelection before anything was decided.
As far as agriculture is concerned, the opposition has stated that they will introduce legislation to lower the soybean export tax from 35% to 25%. Getting the legislation passed may be difficult because the president insists that the revenue generated by the export tax is essential to keep the government running. Additionally, the opposition does not have enough votes to override an expected presidential veto.
Farmers have been extremely frustrated in recent years by the increases in export taxes and the government's interference in the export markets. Governmental policies have forced Argentine farmers to increase their soybean acreage even though the export tax is higher on soybeans than on the other commodities. The difference is that the government interferes with the export of corn and wheat, but it does not interfere with the export of soybeans. As a result, soybean acreage is increasing while the acreage of the other main crops such as wheat, corn and sunflowers is decreasing. The soybean acreage in Argentina is now more than 10 times larges than the corn acreage.