Transparencia Electoral expresses deep concern about the intention to intervene in the Argentine Judiciary

Transparencia Electoral expresses deep concerns about the intention of the Executive Branch to intervene in the Judiciary, both through impeachment and court-packing, a strategy of authoritarian governments that increases the composition of the courts and appoints judges who respond to the Executive Branch to leave those who make decisions independently in a minority.

After a series of unfavorable rulings, the Executive Branch initially threatened to disregard one of the decisions, more specifically ruling CSJ 1865/2020 on the dispute between the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the Nation regarding co-participating funds, which also caused provincial authorities to publicly ignore the authority of the Tribunal. Now, by means of decree 17/2023, the Executive has formally summoned the National Congress to hold extraordinary sessions to try to remove the four current members of the Court via impeachment. This would be requesting the treatment of the draft law to modify article 21 of Decree Law No. 1285/58 in order to modify the number of members in the Court, which already has the sanction of the Senate and would increase the number of members from 5 to 15. 

In this sense, the organization shares the concern expressed by organizations such as the Human Rights Watch, given that it considers that the Judiciary should be able to function and make decisions independently without pressure from the rest of the constituted powers and without facing permanent undemocratic rhetoric. In addition, it should be able to impose limits on the Executive Branch when it considers that its actions and decisions violate the Constitution and the Laws.