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Argentine president's wife to enter race to succeed him

Argentine Senator Cristina Fernandez delivers a speech next to her husband, President Nestor Kirchner, during a political rally in Quilmes, Buenos Aires, on May 22. Fernandez will reportedly enter the presidential race to succeed her husband. PHOTO: AFP

Argentine President Nestor Kirchner has tapped his wife to take his place as the ruling coalition candidate in October presidential elections, the official government news agency said.

The Telam agency on Sunday quoted the president's Cabinet chief as saying Kirchner's powerful wife, Senator Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, would be the leftist ruling coalition's candidate for the Oct. 28 vote and the president will not immediately seek a second term.

Kirchner, who took office in May 2003, for months has said either he or his wife would run on behalf of the ruling Peronist coalition.

Cabinet chief Alberto Fernandez told Telam that Fernandez would formally announce her candidacy later this month in her home city of La Plata, the capital of Buenos Aires Province and home to a quarter of the country's electorate.

The president and his wife made no immediate public comment, and government officials did not respond to calls for comment.

Kirchner and his wife are both seen as heavy favorites in opinion polls for the balloting against a divided opposition.

The president has overseen a recovery from a deep 2002 economic crisis as Argentina's economy began growing again -- by more than 8 percent annually for the past four years.

But support has dipped slightly in recent months following an energy crisis, double-digit inflation, a public works corruption scandal. Candidates allied with the president suffered bruising defeats last month in a Buenos Aires mayoral election and the governor's race in Tierra del Fuego Province.

It was unclear why Kirchner would chose not to seek re-election. But with incumbents barred from seeking consecutive re-election more than once, there is a possibility that Kirchner and his wife could alternate in power if she were to win the presidency.

A "Cristina" candidacy also could solve the lame-duck problem most second-term presidents face while leaving Kirchner free to build a bigger leftist power base within the Peronist party.

Four people have announced their candidacies so far, but all have just single-digit support.

They include Kirchner's centrist former economy minister, Roberto Lavagna, and the more conservative former president Carlos Menem, who trails in opinion polls.

While supporters of a first lady candidacy said she would bring a fresh face and ideas to the governing coalition ticket, critics cite inexperience -- despite her work in the Senate and recent trips to France, Venezuela and elsewhere.

"Her experience in the Senate does not provide much evidence for executive management and she is very closely identified with her husband and his policies," said Riordan Roett, director of Latin American studies at SAIS-Johns Hopkins University in Washington.
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