The chief of the ruling Victory Front caucus in the Lower House, Agustín Rossi, today said that it would be an "institutional blow" if an opposition member was given the Presidency of the Lower House, after the December 10 reshuffle.

"It would be a heavy burden from an institutional point of view," Rossi added, before ensuring that the next President of the House would be from "the Victory Front" (PJ and allies). The last midterm elections saw the opposition being praised by the voters and the ruling party losing an important quantity of seats.

In an interview with a local radio, Rossi explained that there were at least "three or four main reasons" why the presidency can't be given to the opposition.

First, according to the Victory Front's, this would lead to two opposition members being in the list of the three successors to Cristína Fernández de Kirchner (in case of accident or resignation), radical Vice-President Julio Cobos and the President of the Lower House. "I see no political reason why it should be like that," said Rossi.

As a second reason, Rossi explained that it is tradition that "Lower House Presidency and Vice-Presidency are in the hands of the first minority. It has always been like that."

The president of the Victory Front caucus added that "in terms of numbers, the Victory Front bloc will have more than double the deputies compared to any other political force in the House."

"The opposition is counting on coalitions to reach a number of around 120 lawmakers, which is also the number we reach," he concluded.