Cecilia Moreau (born 5 December 1976) is an Argentine politician, currently serving as National Deputy representing Buenos Aires Province since 2015, and as President of the Chamber of Deputies from 2022 to 2023. She is the first woman to hold that position. Previously, from 2007 to 2011 and again in 2015, Moreau served as a member of the Buenos Aires Province Chamber of Deputies elected in the First Electoral Section.

Cecilia Moreau
First Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies
Assumed office
10 December 2023
Preceded byOmar De Marchi
National Deputy
Assumed office
10 December 2015
ConstituencyBuenos Aires
President of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
2 August 2022 – 10 December 2023
Preceded bySergio Massa
Succeeded byMartín Menem
Provincial Deputy of Buenos Aires
In office
10 August 2015 – 10 December 2015
ConstituencyFirst Electoral Section
In office
10 December 2007 – 10 December 2011
ConstituencyFirst Electoral Section
Personal details
Born (1976-12-05) 5 December 1976 (age 48)
Olivos, Argentina
Political partyRadical Civic Union (until 2014)
Renewal Front (2014–present)
Other political
affiliations
United for a New Alternative (2015–2017)
Frente de Todos (2019–2023)
Union for the Homeland (since 2023)

A longtime member of the Radical Civic Union (UCR), Moreau left and joined the Renewal Front in 2014. Since 2019, she has sat in the Frente de Todos parliamentary bloc in the Chamber of Deputies. She is the daughter of prominent UCR leader Leopoldo Moreau, a former President of the Chamber of Deputies.

Early life

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Cecilia Moreau was born on 5 December 1976 in Olivos, a suburb in the Greater Buenos Aires conurbation.[1] She is the daughter of Leopoldo Moreau, a prominent Radical Civic Union leader who served as president of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies and as the UCR's presidential candidate in 2003. She has four siblings, one of which, Carmela, is also active in politics.[2]

Moreau became politically involved from a young age. She followed her father's footsteps in joining the UCR, and in 2001, she was appointed secretary general of the Juventud Radical [es]. From 2005 to 2008, she was secretary of political action in the Radical Committee of Buenos Aires Province.[3]

Political career

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Moreau was elected to the Buenos Aires Province Chamber of Deputies at the 2007 provincial elections; she ran in the UCR list in the First Electoral Section. She finished her mandated in 2011, and later served in the Provincial Chamber briefly between August and December 2015.[3]

Between 2012 and 2014, Moreau was secretary general of the Radical Civic Union committee in Buenos Aires Province.[4] In 2014, she left the UCR and joined the Renewal Front, led by former Cabinet Chief Sergio Massa.[5] Media attention centered around the apparent split between Moreau and her father, both of whom had defected the UCR, but to different parties.[6][7]

National Deputy

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At the 2015 general election, Moreau was the eighth candidate in the United for a New Alternative list to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies in Buenos Aires; the list received 20.98% of the vote, and Moreau was elected.[8][9]

Moreau ran again for a second term in 2019, this time as the sixth candidate in the Frente de Todos list, following the agreement between the Renewal Front and other sectors of Peronism. The list received 51.64% of the vote, and Moreau was comfortably elected.[10] Since 2020, she has been the vice president of the Frente de Todos parliamentary bloc in the Chamber, deputising for Máximo Kirchner.[11]

On 2 August 2022, following the appointment of Sergio Massa as minister of economy, Moreau was elected to succeed him as president of the Chamber of Deputies. She became the first woman to ever hold the position.[12] In addition, her election marked the first time that all authorities of the Argentine Congress were women (alongside Cristina Fernández de Kirchner as president of the Senate and Claudia Ledesma Abdala as provisional president of the Senate).[13]

At the 2023 general election, she was re-elected to a third term as National Deputy for Buenos Aires Province as part of the Union for the Homeland (UP) list, where she was in 4th place. The list came first in the general election in Buenos Aires, with 43.7% of the vote, and she was easily re-elected. The UP candidate for president, Sergio Massa, was ultimately defeated by Javier Milei (LLA) in the November presidential run-off, and per convention Moreau was replaced by a deputy of Milei's party as president of the Chamber in the following legislature. On 7 December 2023, she was succeeded by Martín Menem.[14]

Personal life

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Moreau was a vocal supporter of the legalisation of abortion in Argentina, and voted consistently in favour of the two Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy bills, in 2018 and 2020.[15] During the 2020 debate in the parliamentary commission on general legislation, Moreau spoke on how she carried out a clandestine abortion when she was 16, and how the experience motivated her to vote in favour of the bill.[16][17]

Moreau was married to fellow politician Leandro Santoro, a political protegé of her father's.[18][19] Santoro and Moreau have a daughter.[20] Since 2021, Santoro has served in the Chamber of Deputies alongside both Moreaus.

Electoral history

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Electoral history of Cecilia Moreau
Election Office List # District Votes Result Ref.
Total % P.
2007 Provincial Deputy UNA Concertation [es] 2 First Electoral Section 166,370 7.49% 3rd[a] Elected [21]
2011 Union for Social Development [es] 1 alt. First Electoral Section 342,668 12.56% 2nd[a] Elected[b] [23]
2015 National Deputy United for a New Alternative 8 Buenos Aires Province 1,888,415 28.98% 3rd[a] Elected [24]
2019 Frente de Todos 6 Buenos Aires Province 5,113,359 52.64% 1st[a] Elected [25]
2023 Union for the Homeland 4 Buenos Aires Province 4,094,665 43.71% 1st[a] Elected [26]
  1. ^ a b c d e Presented on an electoral list. The data shown represents the share of the vote the entire party/alliance received in that constituency.
  2. ^ Took office on 10 August 2015, as a replacement for Fernando Rozas.[22]

References

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  1. ^ "CECILIA MOREAU". HCDN (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Carmela Moreau: "Hay una oposición obstruccionista, que quiere desgastar"". Télam (in Spanish). 1 November 2020. Archived from the original on 4 June 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  3. ^ a b "CECILIA MOREAU". HCDN (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  4. ^ "De la interna a la lista de unidad". Página/12 (in Spanish). 28 September 2012. Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  5. ^ "La hija de Moreau avisó que deja la UCR y se va con Massa". Clarín (in Spanish). 27 November 2014. Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  6. ^ Duffard, María Eugenia (28 November 2014). "La familia Moreau, dividida por la interna radical". Clarín (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  7. ^ "Como si fuera un legado familiar, Cecilia Moreau también le dio la espalda al radicalismo". F5 Diario (in Spanish). 27 November 2014. Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  8. ^ "Oficializan lista de candidatos a diputados por Provincia". Ámbito (in Spanish). 24 June 2015. Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  9. ^ "Esta es la nueva Cámara de Diputados". Parlamentario (in Spanish). 29 December 2015. Archived from the original on 5 May 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  10. ^ "El Frente de Todos anotó lista de diputados encabezada por Massa y copada por La Cámpora". Ámbito (in Spanish). 22 June 2019. Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  11. ^ Fredes, Leonardo (9 February 2020). "Cecilia Moreau: "Juntos por el Cambio tiene actores a los que el gorilismo los supera"". Télam (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  12. ^ "Quién es Cecilia Moreau, la nueva presidenta de la Cámara de Diputados que sustituye a Massa". Página 12 (in Spanish). 2 August 2022. Archived from the original on 2 August 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  13. ^ Klempert, Rolando (2 August 2022). "Quien es Cecilia Moreau, la primera presidenta de la Cámara de Diputados". Newsweek (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2 August 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  14. ^ "Martín Menem es el nuevo presidente de la Cámara de Diputados". Página 12 (in Spanish). 7 December 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
  15. ^ Carbajal, Mariana (17 June 2018). "El grupo de l@s sororas". Página/12 (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  16. ^ "La diputada Moreau contó que abortó a los 16 años, en el debate del plenario de comisiones". Télam (in Spanish). 4 December 2020. Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  17. ^ "Cecilia Moreau contó que abortó a los 16 años: "Era una nena y quería tener una vida"". La Nación (in Spanish). 5 December 2020. Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  18. ^ "Quién es Leandro Santoro, el hiperalfonsinista candidato a vice de Recalde". El Cronista (in Spanish). 7 May 2015. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  19. ^ "Quién es Leandro Santoro, el radical K que eligió Alberto Fernández para representar al Gobierno en CABA". A24 (in Spanish). 7 December 2021. Archived from the original on 24 November 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  20. ^ "La mujer del vice de Recalde apoya a Lousteau". Quiero a mi País (in Spanish). 11 May 2015. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  21. ^ "Escrutinio Definitivo" (PDF). juntaelectoral.gba.gov.ar (in Spanish). Junta Electoral de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 August 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  22. ^ "Cecilia Moreau se va antes de Diputados porque Rozas no se quiere perder $15.000". La Política Online (in Spanish). 2 December 2015. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  23. ^ "Elecciones 2013". argentina.gob.ar (in Spanish). Dirección Nacional Electoral. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  24. ^ "Elecciones 2015". argentina.gob.ar (in Spanish). Dirección Nacional Electoral. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  25. ^ "Elecciones 2019". argentina.gob.ar (in Spanish). Dirección Nacional Electoral. Retrieved 4 February 2023.[permanent dead link]
  26. ^ "Elecciones 2023". electoral.gob.ar (in Spanish). Cámara Nacional Electoral. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
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Political offices
Preceded by President of the Chamber of Deputies
2022–2023
Succeeded by