Gerardo Morales (Argentine politician)

Infobox Governor | name= Gerardo Morales
nationality=Argentine


office= President of the National Committee of the Radical Civic Union
party= Radical Civic Union
term_start= 1 December 2006
term_end=
preceded=Roberto Iglesias
succeeded=
office2= Argentine Senator
from Jujuy Province
term_start2= 10 December 2001
term_end2=
preceded2=
succeeded2=
date of birth=birth date and age|1959|07|18
place of birth=
dead=alive
date of death=
place of death=
spouse=
religion=
profession= Public accountant
website=

Gerardo Rubén Morales (b. 18 July 1959, San Salvador Department, Jujuy) is an Argentine politician, leader of the Radical Civic Union (UCR). He sits in the Argentine Senate representing Jujuy Province, elected for the Front of Jujuy. He was a candidate for vice-president in the 2007 elections.

Morales graduated as a public accountant from the National University of Jujuy. He worked on the Ferrocarril General Manuel Belgrano railway washing up and as a waiter, and later worked his way up from administrator to Director of Liquidations at the provincial Insurance Institute. He also lectured and was politically active at university.

In 1989 Morales was elected as a provincial deputy and in 1993 became leader of the UCR block in the legislature. In 1991 and 1992 he was president of the Finance Committee. He stood to be vice-governor of Jujuy in 1991 and was a candidate for Governor of Jujuy in 1995 and 1999. He stepped down as a Jujuy deputy in 2000 to join the national government of President Fernando de la Rúa as Secretary for Social Development. In 2001, shortly before the fall of de la Rúa's presidency, Morales was elected as a national senator.

After the election of Néstor Kirchner as President of Argentina in 2003, many leading Radicals publicly supported Kirchner's populist left-wing agenda. The so-called "Radicales K" included provincial governors and national legislators. The national president of the Radicals, Roberto Iglesias took a hard-line approach against Kirchner, opposing efforts to re-align the Radicals alongside him. Iglesias led negotiations to find a suitable candidate for the UCR to back in the 2007 Presidential elections against Kirchner's wife, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Roberto Lavagna, a former minister under Kirchner who subsequently opposed his policies, appeared to be the favoured candidate for the majority of the Party. However, Iglesias eventually resigned the presidency of the party in November 2006 due to differences with Lavagna, having reached the conclusion that an alliance with him would be a mistake, and joined the camp which maintained that the party should look for its own candidate (the so-called "Radicales R").

On 1 December 2006 the UCR National Committee appointed Morales as its new president. Morales stated that he wanted to follow the mandate of the Rosario convention (that is, looking for a possible alliance with Roberto Lavagna) and went on to become Lavagna's running mate in the presidential election of October 2007 heading an electoral front named An Advanced Nation ('UNA'), coming third. Following the election, Lavagna returned to the Peronist fold and the episode was seen as very damaging to the Radical cause.

External links

* [http://www.senado.gov.ar/web/senadores/biografia.php?id_sena=295 Senate profile]
* [http://morales.radicales.org.ar/ Official website]

References