This Thursday, December 12, the nation’s Senate expelled Edgardo Kueider due to the scandal in which he was the protagonist for having tried to enter Paraguay with 200 thousand dollars without declaring.
But the story could have an unexpected turn, because the session was chaired by Victoria Villarruel, who at the same time was in charge of the National Executive Branch because President Javier Milei was traveling to Italy, to meet with Georgia Meloni.
According to article 88 of the National Constitution, when the president is absent from the country’s capital, the vice president must take his place.
Javier Milei traveled at noon to Rome and the expulsion of Kueider was voted at 4:27 p.m., meaning that this administrative act of the senate can be declared null because it was carried out irregularly.
Another possibility that could be evaluated is that the session is valid because Villarruel’s situation would be just a formality defect and does not affect the result of the vote, because Kueider was expelled by a large majority. The situation would be different if Villarruel had had to break the tie.
According to reports, Kueider’s lawyers could present a challenge to the session to delay his expulsion and one of the main arguments would be that the senator could not defend himself and that his judicial situation has not yet been resolved, so if he were to be released in Paraguay, his political rights, obtained in the elections, would have been taken away.
There are two paths left: If Kueider’s lawyers present the challenge, it should be held again, falling into an institutional mess or nothing happens and it continues.
