page_title: Eduardo Duhalde
section_title: Appointment
hierarchical_section_title: Eduardo Duhalde / Presidency / Appointment
caption_attribution_description: Español: Eduardo Duhalde asume como presidente
context_page_description: Eduardo Alberto Duhalde is an Argentine politician who was President of Argentina.
  Born in Lomas de Zamora, he was elected for the local legislature and appointed mayor in 1973. He was deposed during the 1976 Argentine coup d'état, and elected again when democracy was restored in 1983. He was elected vice-president of Argentina in 1989, under President Carlos Menem. Duhalde resigned as vice president and was elected Governor of Buenos Aires Province in 1991, and re-elected in 1995. He ran for president in 1999, being defeated by Fernando de la Rúa. De la Rúa resigned during the December 2001 riots, and Congress appointed the governor of San Luis Province Adolfo Rodríguez Saá as president. When Rodríguez Saá also resigned, Congress appointed Duhalde. During Duhalde's term in office, a huge currency devaluation and an increase of the exchange rate led to a gradual recovery. He successfully supported the candidate Néstor Kirchner against Menem, who sought a new presidential term. Duhalde had political disputes with Kirchner in later years, and is largely retired from politics since his defeat in the 2011 presidential elections.
context_section_description: De la Rúa headed the country during an economic crisis, and resigned during the December 2001 riots. As his vice president had already resigned months before, Congress was convened to appoint a new president. Eleven provinces with low populations and Peronist governors had formed a bloc, the "Federal Front", and received the required votes to appoint the governor of San Luis Province, Adolfo Rodríguez Saá. The first administrative actions of Rodríguez Saá caused renewed protests, and the PJ did not fully support him. He called for a meeting with governors in Chapadmalal, but only six governors out of twenty-three attended. He resigned a few days later, and accused Duhalde of plotting against him, along with the governor of Córdoba, José Manuel de la Sota.
  The Congress was convened again to appoint a new president. The "Federal Front" was weakened by the failure of Rodríguez Saá, and the provinces with higher populations increased their influence. The likely candidates were Duhalde, De la Sota, and Carlos Ruckauf, the governor of the Buenos Aires province at the time. Menem, who still had legislators loyal to him, wanted to prevent Duhalde from becoming president, and proposed to appoint the governor of Misiones Ramón Puerta instead. Puerta had been the acting president while Congress deliberated the first time, but he refused to be appointed president or even to serve as acting president a second time (Eduardo Camaño became the acting president as a result). Puerta talked with Duhalde, and opined that without De la Rúa and Álvarez he was the politician with the highest legitimacy to be appointed president, as he had placed second in the 1999 elections and won the 2001 legislative elections in the Buenos Aires province, the district of Argentina with the largest population. Alfonsín gave Duhalde decisive support, instructing the radical legislators to vote for him, and giving him two ministers, the radicals Horacio Jaunarena and Jorge Vanossi. The legislators loyal to Menem eventually voted for Duhalde as well. The radicals' support allowed Duhalde to govern for the remainder of De la Rúa's term of office, instead of governing for 90 days and calling for new elections, as was the case of Rodríguez Saá. Duhalde was appointed president on 2 January 2002.
caption: Duhalde takes the oath of office as president of Argentina.
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