Kirchner or Fernandez: Who’s really going to run Argentina?
Japan Times
Alberto Fernandez has just been elected president of Argentina, but before even taking office he faces suggestions that he is a puppet for former President Cristina Kirchner.
Fernandez may have defeated incumbent Mauricio Macri at the polls on Oct. 27, but he did so with Kirchner as his running mate — and soon to be vice president.
It’s led many to wonder who will really be running the country: two-time former President Kirchner (2007-2015) or Fernandez, her ex-Cabinet chief.“Cristina is not competing for power,” a top official in Fernandez’s inner circle said.“He will be in charge,” the official added. “They have a great relationship.”
That last claim can be hard for some to stomach given the pair’s history.
Fernandez, who will take office in December, first became Cabinet chief in the government of Kirchner’s late husband, Nestor, from 2003 to 2007.He maintained the role when Kirchner succeeded her husband but quit a year later over Kirchner’s tough handling of a dispute with farmers over an increase in taxes on agricultural exports.He became a critic of the movement he helped found and even collaborated with some sectors of the opposition.He would later say of Kirchner’s second term: “It was a very bad government where it is difficult to find something worthy.”He has since changed his tone somewhat, insisting now that he and Kirchner “are the same.”Undoubtedly, though, Kirchner remains the biggest heavyweight in Argentine politics, despite the embarrassment of being implicated in a dozen corruption investigations.
She has already gone to trial in the first of those and only her parliamentary immunity — she’s currently a senator — is keeping her out of pre-trial detention.A clue as to who really has power may come in the following key days when the configuration of the new government will be decided.Kirchner is heading to Cuba to be with her daughter, Florencia, who is undergoing treatment there for health problems, and will not return until Nov. 11.
For some, it resembles the situation in Russia when Vladimir Putin reached the end of his stipulated two terms as president in 2008, only to switch to the secondary role of prime minister for four years before returning as president.
In the meantime, current Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev — Putin’s campaign manager from his 2000 election victory — kept the president’s seat warm.