Supreme Court declares Insfrán’s indefinite re-election in Formosa unconstitutional

After almost three decades in power, Gildo Insfrán’s time ruling the northeastern province of Formosa is finally set to come to an end.

In a decisive ruling Thursday, Argentina’s Supreme Court declared an article permitting indefinite gubernatorial re-election in the province o to be unconstitutional.

The decision directly affects the ambitions of Insfrán, the Peronist gobernador who has been in power since 1995.

Insfrán, 73, has ruled the border province for more than a quarter of a century. Another term in power would take him past the 30-year mark.

The challenge preceding the ruling was presented by the “Confederación Frente Amplio Formoseño.” Supreme Court Justices Horacio Rosatti, Juan Carlos Maqueda and Ricardo Lorenzetti agreed that the impugned clause (approved in 2003) left it explicitly ambiguous as to whether unlimited re-elections were permitted or not.

This has affected democratic alternation and the separation of powers in the provincial government in order to keep the democratic system functioning correctly, said the court.

Rosatti, Maqueda and Lorenzetti assured that the provinces “must adjust to the limitations of the National Constitution,” arguing that unlimited re-election “foments the personalisation of power, weakens the system of checks and balances and awards unfair advantages in electoral contests.”

For his part, Justice Carlos Rosenkrantz stated that this kind of electoral practices “erodes” the representativeness of those in government and could lead to “authoritarian practices” while arguing that Insfrán should complete his term without problems.

The ruling establishes that Formosa should amend its Constitution via the “procedures provided in that norm” to put a stop to indefinite re-elections, marking a precedent “in the relationship between federalism and the fundamental principles of the republican order.”

Possessing a record which no provincial leader in Argentine history or worldwide can dispute, only a handful of current heads of state across the globe have had longer terms than Insfrán.

Following his second re-election as governor in 2003, a vote in which he received over 60 percent of the vote, Insfrán found himself with sufficient political capital to embark on a reform of the provincial Constitution, permitting himself indefinite re-election.

Further re-elections followed in 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019.

According to the INDEC national statistics bureau, Formosa is one of the poorest provinces in the country. As of midway through 2024, more than 57 percent of households were classified as below the poverty line, with 67.6 percent categorized as poor. Extreme poverty affects 16.2 percent of households and 19.8 percent of the provincial population.

– TIMES/PERFIL