Two Protestant pastors in the political front that defeated the governor of Misiones

Argentina, November 1, 2006

Elections were held in Misiones, in the northeastern region of Argentina, to modify Article 110 Taxi Heathrow Airport of the Constitution, so as to allow for an unlimited reelection of the governor and vice-governor. On the one hand, the present Governor Carlos Rovira (who has been Provincial Governor for 8 years) and who is responsible for the reelection proposal, had the support of the national government. On the other hand was the opposing United for Dignity Front (FUD), headed by the Bishop Emeritus of Iguazú, Joaquín Piña. The results of the Sunday, October 29 elections gave 43.4% of the votes to the government proposal, and 56.5% to FUD.      

Analysts consider that the participation of the Roman Catholic church in the defeat of a powerful governor is not a minor matter and neither is it a secret that this election victory is yet another obstacle in the already harsh relations between the Kirchner government and the official church. Before the final counting of the votes had been completed, Bishop Piña fired away at the press by saying, “His” (the governor’s) “own arrogance condemned him.”  

Yet, Piña, who has said that he will not continue in politics, was not alone. The United for Dignity Front had gathered together political parties, workers and other organizations of society. The Evangelical Church of Río de la Plata (IERP), made up of 42 congregations in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay with a strong presence and participation in the missionary society, was represented on the ballot sheets by two candidates for the constituent assembly; Pastors Pedro Kalmbach and Leonardo Schindler, both supported by the church’s Board of Directors. Pastor Federico Schäfer, President of the Board and who was reelected last month to lead the church, said, “The people have interested themselves at the right time in ensuring that the democratic and republican systems prevail in the province.” 

The Evangelical Church of Río de la Plata has 7 congregations covering 30 towns, among them Posadas, Eldorado and Montecarlo, three districts that were important in last Sunday’s victory against the modifying of the provincial constitution. Pastor Schäfer warned that, “Rovira’s intentions have no place in the democracy that we want,” in explaining IERP’s decision to support its pastors on the ballot sheets against the reform by which the Governor of Misiones was trying to allow unlimited reelection.

"The church is accompanying the people in defending the already established constitutional measures,” Schäfer observed and added that the “IERP believes that there was no need to modify the provinces’ constitution on that point.”