Sergio Raúl Ziliotto (born 24 September 1962) is an Argentine Justicialist Party politician who is currently governor of La Pampa Province, since 10 December 2019. Previously, from 2015 to 2019, he was a National Deputy for La Pampa.

Sergio Ziliotto
Governor of La Pampa
Assumed office
10 December 2019
Vice GovernorMariano Fernández
Preceded byCarlos Verna
National Deputy
In office
10 December 2015 – 10 December 2019
ConstituencyLa Pampa
Minister of Social Welfare of La Pampa
In office
31 May 2006 – 10 December 2007
GovernorCarlos Verna
Preceded byRodolfo Mauricio Gazia
Succeeded byGustavo Fernández Mandía
Personal details
Born (1962-09-24) 24 September 1962 (age 62)
General Pico, La Pampa Province, Argentina
Political partyJusticialist Party
Alma materNational University of La Pampa

Early life and education

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Sergio Raúl Ziliotto was born on 24 September 1962[1] in General Pico, La Pampa Province. His father, son of immigrants, was a policeman, and also worked as a trucker.[2] He moved to the provincial capital, Santa Rosa, to enroll at the National University of La Pampa (UNLPam). It was there that he began his political activism in the local chapter of the Peronist Youth.[3]

Political career

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Ziliotto was appointed director of transport by then-governor Rubén Marín in 1991.[3] Under the governorship of Carlos Verna, he was appointed Undersecretary of Social Policy in 2003 and then Minister of Social Welfare in 2006.[4] As minister, Ziliotto designed the "Plan Piquén", which reformed the existing social assistance scheme in the province and introduced a debit card-based welfare scheme.[2]

He was elected to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies in 2015, where he formed part of the Justicialist bloc.[5] As a national deputy, Ziliotto gained national recognition in 2018 when, following Verna's instructions, he successfully lobbied two of his fellow Justicialist deputies from La Pampa (Melina Delú and Ariel Rauschenberger) to change their mind and vote in favor of the Voluntary Termination of Pregnancy bill at the last minute.[4][6]

Governor of La Pampa

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Ahead of the 2019 general election, incumbent governor Carlos Verna announced he would not be seeking the re-election due to his ongoing battle with cancer.[7] Instead, Verna nominated Ziliotto to run in the Justicialist Front list. He won the election with 51% of the vote.[3] As governor, he caused controversy when he stated in a press conference during which he was announcing the province's COVID-19 containment measures that "Argentina has [far too many] porteños", when asked about the protests against lockdown measures in Buenos Aires.[7]

Personal life

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Ziliotto is an avid football fan; in his youth he played for the Club Atlético Costa Brava, a local club in General Pico.[2]

References

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  1. ^ "En el día de su cumpleaños, el gobernador de la provincia Sergio Ziliotto aislado, 31 contagiados y tres muertes". Impacto Castex (in Spanish). 25 September 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  2. ^ a b c Boffelli, Ariel (19 May 2019). "El soldado del proyecto (Verna)". Letra P (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  3. ^ a b c "Quién es Sergio Ziliotto, el elegido de Carlos Verna, que se quedó con la gobernación de La Pampa". TN (in Spanish). 16 May 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Peronista y "vernista"". Página/12 (in Spanish). 19 May 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  5. ^ "María Luz Alonso encabezará la lista de senadores del FpV en La Pampa y Mediza en diputados". Télam (in Spanish). 20 June 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  6. ^ Serra, Laura; Sued, Gabriel (14 June 2018). "Aborto: el giro sorpresivo de dos diputados de La Pampa que torció la votación". La Nación (in Spanish).
  7. ^ a b "Quién es Sergio Ziliotto, el gobernador para quien "a la Argentina le sobran muchos porteños"". La Nación (in Spanish). 1 July 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
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Political offices
Preceded by Governor of La Pampa
2019–present
Incumbent