Ernesto Sanz | |
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President of the National Committee of the Radical Civic Union | |
In office December 5, 2009 – December 16, 2011 |
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Preceded by | Gerardo Morales |
Succeeded by | Mario Barletta |
Argentine Senator from Mendoza Province |
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Assumed office December 10, 2003 |
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Mayor of San Rafael, Argentina | |
In office December 10, 1999 – December 10, 2003 |
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Member of the Mendoza Province Senate | |
In office December 10, 1993 – December 10, 1999 |
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Personal details | |
Born |
San Rafael, Argentina |
December 9, 1956
Nationality | Argentine |
Spouse(s) | Cristina Bessone |
Alma mater | National University of the Littoral |
Profession | Lawyer |
Ernesto Sanz (born December 9, 1956) is an Argentine Radical Civic Union (UCR) politician. He serves in the Argentine Senate representing Mendoza Province.
Sanz was born in San Rafael, Mendoza. He enrolled at the National University of the Littoral, and earned a law degree in 1981. Sanz married Cristina Bessone, and the couple had two children. Following the return of democracy in 1983, he became an adviser to the Governor of Mendoza, Santiago Llaver. He also taught at the National University of Cuyo Law School from 1984 to 1986, and maintained a private practice. He was elected to the UCR Youth Chapter's National Committee in 1987, and as President of the San Rafael Department chapter of the UCR in 1991. He served as a provincial senator from 1993, acting as President of the UCR caucus from 1995, and in 1999 became mayor of San Rafael.
Sanz was elected Senator for Mendoza in 2003. He joined the Senate Budget and Domestic Economic Policy committees, and later the Constitutional, Investment, Argentina-Chile relations, and Federal Budget Sharing committees, among others. He was elected ranking member of the Budget Committee, and in 2007, leader of the UCR Senate caucus. Sanz ran for Vice-Governor with Roberto Iglesias in 2007; the ticket, however, was defeated by Justicialist Party candidate Celso Jaque, and finished in fourth place with 10% of the vote. Sanz suffered an automobile accident in March 2008 while driving along the Atuel River in Mendoza; he recovered quickly.
Sanz was reelected to the Senate in a landslide in 2009, and in December was elected President of the UCR National Committee. He announced his candidacy on March 2, 2011, for the UCR presidential primary scheduled for April 30. His chief opponent, Congressman Ricardo Alfonsín, was described by Sanz as "an appeal to nostalgia" (in reference to the latter's father, former President Raúl Alfonsín). Sanz withdrew shortly before the April 28 primary, however, and Alfonsín himself placed third in the 2011 general election.