Uruguay
The Broad Front is set to approve the Accountability Bill unchanged in the Uruguayan Senate
The governing coalition has the votes to push the bill through as it came from the lower house. The opposition anticipates a heated debate and will present dozens of amendments it does not expect to pass.
The Uruguayan Senate will begin final consideration of the Accountability Bill this Monday, in a scenario in which the Broad Front has enough votes to approve the text without changes, according to El País. The vote could stretch over three days and will be accompanied by a debate expected to be intense.
According to that outlet, the governing coalition’s decision not to introduce changes responds to a political strategy: if the bill were altered, it would have to return to the Chamber of Representatives, where the Broad Front does not have a majority and managed to clear the first hurdle after negotiations with Cabildo Abierto.
The opposition sharply criticized that decision. National Party senator Rodrigo Blás told El País that the government and the Broad Front acted with “arrogance” and said they would move ahead with a text containing errors that could have been corrected. He also said there was “no openness to improve, agree or listen.”
In the same vein, National Party senator Javier García again spoke of a “parliamentary blockade” and told El País that the debate “will necessarily make clear that the government is doing badly.” According to coalition sources cited by the newspaper, they will also not accept having their speaking time in the chamber reduced.
Although the National Party and the Colorado Party will not support the bill overall, they do back much of the article-by-article text. El País noted that this was already reflected in committee, where 216 of the 312 articles sent from the Chamber of Representatives were approved with the vote of all its members, equivalent to 69% of the total.
National Party senator Graciela Bianchi this week accused the governing lawmakers of turning the Senate into “a government notary office,” according to El País. On the Broad Front side, senator Sebastián Sabini defended the negotiations with those willing to support the bill and said the coalition’s initial stance was a “staged performance that, in the end, went badly.”
Sabini also questioned some of the changes the opposition will bring to the plenary. According to what he told El País, several of those initiatives are “wish lists” because they have no funding and would be “illegal” to approve. He also said some additions are a kind of “mini LUC” because they are not linked to the Accountability Bill, and added that other proposals divert resources intended for children toward other agencies.
According to El País, the coalition will present at least 55 amendments, including additions and substitutes, despite assuming that the governing coalition, with its own majority, will ultimately impose its view.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this event.
