Jorge Alberto Obeid (24 November 1947 – 28 January 2014) was an Argentine

Justicialist Party The Justicialist Party (, ; abbr. PJ) is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism. Following the 2023 presidential election, it has been the largest party in the opposition against President Javier Milei. Fo ...

(PJ) politician who was twice

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Santa Fe Province The Invincible Province of Santa Fe (, , lit. "Holy Faith") is a Provinces of Argentina, province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco Province, Chaco (divided by the 2 ...

and thrice a member of the

Argentine Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies (), officially the Honorable Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation, is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress (). It is made up of 257 national deputies who are elected in multi-member constituencies c ...

Early life and education

Obeid was born in

Diamante, Entre Ríos Diamante is a city in the west of the province of Entre Ríos, Argentina, on the eastern shore of the Paraná River The Paraná River ( ; ; ) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ...

, to Edi D'Acierno, of Italian descent, and Juan Obeid, of Lebanese descent. He enrolled at the

National University of the Littoral The National University of the Littoral (, UNL) is a public university in Argentina. It is based in Santa Fe, Argentina, Santa Fe, the capital of Santa Fe Province. It has colleges and other academic facilities in Esperanza, Santa Fe, Esperanza ...

, in Santa Fe, and graduated with a degree in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

. He taught there from 1972 to 1976, and became a

Peronist Youth Peronism, also known as justicialism, is an Argentine ideology and movement based on the ideas, doctrine and legacy of Juan Perón (1895–1974). It has been an influential movement in 20th- and 21st-century Argentine politics. Since 1946, Pe ...

activist at the time. This forced him to leave the country following the

March 1976 coup March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 21 m ...

, and returning from exile in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

in 1977 to visit family in Diamante he was detained. Following the return of democracy in 1983, Obeid worked as a chemist in a

polyurethane Polyurethane (; often abbreviated PUR and PU) is a class of polymers composed of organic chemistry, organic units joined by carbamate (urethane) links. In contrast to other common polymers such as polyethylene and polystyrene, polyurethane term ...

plant. He married Elba Inés Kemer, and they had five children.

Political career

Obeid remained active in Peronist politics after his return, and in 1987 was elected to the Santa Fe City Council. He became President of the Council in 1989, and when Mayor Carlos Aurelio Martínez resigned later that year, he succeeded him as mayor. Obeid was elected mayor in his own right in 1991, and later served as President of Argentine Federation of Cities (1992–93) and as representative for Santa Fe Province in the 1994 Constitutional Convention.

Governor of Santa Fe

He was elected governor of the province for the first time in 1995, winning an election that was fraught with problems, including a breakdown in the computer system counting the ballots that forced a recount to be done by hand. Obeid was declared the winner after 37 days, subsequent to charges of fraud and manipulation. He was backed by outgoing governor

Carlos Reutemann Carlos Alberto "Lole" Reutemann (12 April 1942 – 7 July 2021) was an Argentine racing driver and politician, who competed in Formula One from to and served as the Governor of Santa Fe from 1999 to 2003. Reutemann was runner-up in the Form ...

and

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

Governor

Eduardo Duhalde Eduardo Alberto Duhalde (; born 5 October 1941) is an Argentina, Argentine former peronist politician who served as the interim President of Argentina from January 2002 to May 2003. He also served as Vice President of Argentina, Vice President ...

, narrowly defeating

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...

candidate Horacio Usandizaga and an alternative Peronist candidate backed by President

Carlos Menem Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) served as the 50th president of Argentina for ten years, from 1989 to 1999. He identified as Peronism, Peronist, serving as President of the Justicialist Party for 13 years (from 1990 to 200 ...

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city, located northwest of Buenos Aires on the west bank of the Paraná River, is the third-most populous city in the ...

Mayor

Héctor Cavallero Héctor Cavallero (2 October 1939 – 2 October 2020), nicknamed ''El Tigre'' ("The Tiger"), was an Argentine politician, who was mayor of Rosario, Santa Fe, and a member of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies for the Province of Santa Fe. Biogra ...

. He served until 1999, when former Governor Reutemann was returned by voters to a second four-year term. The provincial constitution of Santa Fe does not allow for reelection of a governor, and Obeid was elected to the

in 1999. He was then returned by voters as governor for a second, non-consecutive term in 2003. Under his administration, and following his initiative, the provincial legislature repealed the controversial electoral law called '' Ley de Lemas'', which had allowed Obeid to twice win the governorship after obtaining fewer votes than his closest opponent. Termed out of office, Obeid headed the

Front for Victory The Front for Victory (, FPV) was a centre-left Peronist electoral alliance in Argentina, and is formally a faction of the Justicialist Party. Former presidents Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner were elected as representatives ...

Santa Fe

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can c ...

for seats in the Chamber of Deputies. His term as governor ended in December 2007 and he was succeeded by the Socialist Mayor of Rosario,

Hermes Binner Hermes Juan Binner (June 5, 1943 − June 26, 2020) was an Argentine physician and politician who served as Governor of Santa Fe from 2007 to 2011.pulmonary embolism Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of an pulmonary artery, artery in the lungs by a substance that has moved from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream (embolism). Symptoms of a PE may include dyspnea, shortness of breath, chest pain ...

; he was 66.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obeid, Jorge 1947 births 2014 deaths People from Entre Ríos Province Argentine people of Lebanese descent Argentine people of Italian descent National University of the Littoral alumni Argentine chemical engineers Mayors of Santa Fe, Argentina Governors of Santa Fe Province Justicialist Party politicians Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Santa Fe Deaths from pulmonary embolism 20th-century Argentine engineers 21st-century Argentine engineers Argentine deputies 2007–2009 Argentine deputies 2009–2011 Argentine deputies 2013–2015