The Chamber of Deputies of Santiago del Estero Province () is the

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

legislative body A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers o ...

Santiago del Estero Province Santiago del Estero (), also known simply as Santiago, is a Provinces of Argentina, province in the north of Argentina. Neighboring provinces, clockwise from the north, are Salta Province, Salta, Chaco Province, Chaco, Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe, ...

, in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. It comprises 40 legislators, elected in a single province-wide multi-member district through

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

using the

D'Hondt system The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is an apportionment method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in proportional representation among political parties. It belongs to ...

. The Chamber convenes in the provincial capital, the City of Santiago del Estero. The president ''ex officio'' of the Chamber is the vice governor of the province, who is elected every four years alongside the

governor of Santiago del Estero The Governor of Santiago del Estero () is a citizen of the Santiago del Estero Province, in Argentina, holding the office of governor for the corresponding period. The governor is elected alongside a vice-governor. Currently the governor of Sant ...

. For day-to-day affairs, the presidency of the chamber is held by the provisional president.

History

The establishment of the first legislature of Santiago del Estero was brought about by the adoption of the province's first constitution, in July 1956, during the governorship of

Manuel Taboada Manuel Baldomero Taboada (Villa Matará, Sarmiento Department, Santiago del Estero, Sarmiento Department, Santiago del Estero Province, 27 February 1817 – Santiago del Estero, 7 September 1871) was an Argentines, Argentine politician, General of ...

. The first legislative body was known as the Hall of Representatives, and counted with 16 sitting members and 6 alternate members: the sum of all of these served as the first constitutional convention. Members of the Hall of Representatives initially served only two years in their post. In 1870, the '' cabildo'' of

Santiago del Estero Santiago del Estero (, Spanish for ''Saint-James-Upon-The-Lagoon'') is the capital of Santiago del Estero Province in northern Argentina. It has a population of 252,192 inhabitants, () making it the twelfth largest city in the country, with a sur ...

became the seat of the provincial legislature. Later, in 1928, the body moved to the old building of the Teatro 25 de Mayo. This would remain as the legislature's official seat until 2004. In 2002, following a declaration of a state of "political instability" by governor and ''

caudillo A ''caudillo'' ( , ; , from Latin language, Latin , diminutive of ''caput'' "head") is a type of Personalist dictatorship, personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise English translation for the term, though it ...

'' Carlos Juárez, elections were rescheduled to take place a year earlier than anticipated. Subsequent

federal intervention Federal intervention () is a power attributed to the federal government of Argentina, by which it takes control of a province in certain extreme cases. Intervention is declared by the President with the assent of the National Congress. Article 6 ...

s continued to alter the province's electoral schedules. Since then, Santiago del Estero has maintained an altered electoral calendar wherein all province-wide offices (both the governor and the Chamber of Deputies) are elected the same year

midterm election Apart from general elections and by-elections, a midterm election refers to a type of election where the people can elect their representatives and other subnational officeholders (e.g. governor, members of local council) in the middle of the t ...

s to the

National Congress National Congress is a term used in the names of various political parties and legislatures. Political parties *Ethiopia: Oromo National Congress, original name of the Oromo People's Congress *Guyana: People's National Congress Reform *India: **In ...

are held. Santiago del Estero and

Corrientes Corrientes (; Guaraní: Taragui, literally: "Currents") is the capital city of the province of Corrientes, Argentina, located on the eastern shore of the Paraná River, about from Buenos Aires and from Posadas, on National Route 12. It has ...

are the only two provinces currently employing this electoral calendar.

Building

Since 2014, the Chamber of Deputies has convened in a new building built with the exclusive purpose of housing both meetings of the body and legislative offices of its members. It is located on the corner of Avenida Roca and Patagonia, in the provincial capital, near the city's central bus station and not far from the governor's offices. The building was inaugurated by Governor

Claudia Ledesma Abdala Claudia Alejandra Ledesma Abdala de Zamora (born 14 September 1974) is an Argentine politician, currently serving as a National Senator for Santiago del Estero Province and as List of provisional presidents of the Argentine Senate, Provisional Pr ...

on 8 April 2014.

References

External links

*
Constitution of Santiago del Estero Province
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chamber of Deputies of Santiago del Estero 1856 establishments in Argentina Politics of Argentina Santiago del Estero Province