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Pacto de Olivos


The Olivos Pact (Spanish: Pacto de Olivos) refers to a series of documents signed on November 17, 1993, between the governing President of Argentina, Carlos Menem, and former President and leader of the opposition UCR, Raúl Alfonsín, that formed the basis of the constitutional reform of 1994. These memorandum of understanding were signed in the official presidential residence, the Quinta de Olivos.

Raúl Alfonsín was the president of Argentina for the Radical Civic Union (UCR) from 1983 to 1989, and resigned during an economic crisis. Carlos Menem, from the Justicialist Party (PJ), was elected in 1989. The Convertibility plan ended the economic crisis and increased his popularity, allowing the PJ to win the 1991 and 1993 midterm elections. The presidential term of office was of six years, with no reelection. Menem sought to change that with an amendment to the Constitution of Argentina. For this he would require a supermajority of two thirds of both houses of the Argentine Congress. Although that was a feasible option at the Senate, it was a remote possibility at the Chamber of Deputies. Menem sought creative alternatives for that, such as a legal technicality that the requirement would be two thirds of the legislators present at the Congress during the session instead of two thirds of the complete body (and thus exploit circumstances where opposing legislators may be absent). Radical governors such as Carlos Maestro and Horacio Massaccesi commented that they would not oppose an amendment approved that way.


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