| Argentine National Congress 'Congreso de la Nación' |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Type | |
| Type | Bicameral |
| Houses | Senate Chamber of Deputies |
| Leadership | |
| President of the Senate | Julio Cobos, (Front for Victory) since December 10, 2007 |
| President of the Chamber | Eduardo Fellner, Justicialist Party (Front for Victory) since December 10, 2007 |
| Structure | |
| Members | 72 Senators 256 Deputies |
| Election | |
| Senate Last election | 28 October 2007 |
| Chamber of Deputies Last election | 28 October 2007 |
| Meeting place | |
| Web site | |
| Congreso de la Nación (Spanish) | |
The Congress of the Argentine Nation (Spanish: Congreso de la Nación Argentina) is the legislative branch of the government of Argentina.
Situated at the end of Avenida de Mayo, at the other end of which is located the Casa Rosada, Argentina's parliament is bicameral and is made up of the 72-seat Senate and the 256-seat Chamber of Deputies.
Designed by the Italian architect Vittorio Meano and completed by Argentine architect Julio Dormal, the building was under construction between 1898 and 1906. Inaugurated that year, its aesthetic details were not completed until 1946. Local sculptor Lola Mora graced the interior halls and exterior alike with numerous allegorical bronzes. As time went by, the building proved too small for its purpose, and in 1974 the construction of the Annex, which now holds the Deputies' offices, was started (image, below).
Congressional Plaza was created facing the building by French Argentine urbanist Charles Thays and inaugurated in 1910. Popular among tourists, the plaza is also a preferred location for protesters and those who want to voice their opinion about Congress' activities.
.jpg)
The building from 1976 to 1983 housed the CAL (Legislative Advisory Commission), which was a group of officers from the three Armed Forces. Commissioned to review and discuss laws before they were issued by the Executive Branch, they served a succession of de facto military presidents during the infamous National Reorganization Process. In practice, this became a mechanism to detect and discuss the differences between the three commanders-in-chief of the Army, Navy, and Air Force regarding a specific project. The CAL was established by the Acta del Proceso de Reorganización Nacional (National Reorganization Process Act), the guiding document for the military government established after the coup d'état of March 24, 1976.
Following a 1994 reform of the Constitution, the Senate was expanded from 48 members (two per province or district) to 72 members, whereby the party garnering second place in elections for Senator would be assured the third seat for the corresponding province.
| Argentina |
 This article is part of the series: |
|
|
|
|
Other countries · Atlas Politics portal |
See also
External links
Coordinates: 34°36′34.75″S 58°23′33.29″W / 34.6096528°S 58.3925806°W
|
|||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
