[NYTr] Argentina's First Lady Claims Election Victory

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP via The Independent - Oct 29, 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article3107735.ece

Argentina's first lady claims election victory

AP

First lady Cristina Fernandez claimed victory in Argentina's
presidential election, with early results and exit polls suggesting she
had won by a large enough margin to avoid a runoff. She would be the
first woman elected to the post.

Fernandez has been compared to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who like her is
a lawyer and senator who soldiered alongside a husband as he rose from
small-state governor to his nation's presidency.

Her success is in large part due to the accomplishments of President
Nestor Kirchner, credited with Argentina's rebound from a 2001 economic
collapse.

"We have won amply," she proclaimed, with Kirchner standing at her
side. "But this, far from putting us in a position of privilege, puts
us instead in a position of greater responsibilities and obligations."

Supporters jumped up and down and embraced one another.

"I'm so excited!" screamed Maria Isabel Francia, a 50-year-old street
merchant. "Cristina is going to pull us out of poverty."

Her challengers were trying to force her into a November 25 runoff.

She needed 40 percent of the vote, with a lead of more than 10 percent
over her nearest rival, to win outright, and exit polls and early
results suggested she had.

Of the first 11 percent of polling places reporting, Fernandez had 42
percent of the vote, compared with 21 percent for former Economy
Minister Roberto Lavagna and 18 percent for Elisa Carrio. Eleven others
split the rest.

Six independent television networks, a private radio station and an
opposition newspaper reported their exit polling indicated Fernandez
has easily won a first-round victory.

Five of the news organisations released their numbers, giving Fernandez
between 42 and 46 percent of the vote, with advantages of 19 to 23
percentage points over Carrio.

But no opposition candidates conceded defeat, and Carrio spokesman
Matias Mendez said seven parties had filed a complaint alleging that
ballots were missing or stolen in Buenos Aires province, the country's
most populous.

Electoral officials denied any irregularities, but a judge extended
voting by an hour in the capital after many of Argentina's 12,700
polling stations opened late yesterday.

A representative of the ruling party was arrested on suspicion of
trying to vote twice.

The next president, who begins a four-year term on December 10, faces
challenges including high inflation, an energy shortage and rampant
crime.

And the legacy of the economic crisis can still be seen in high
unemployment and widespread poverty in a country that a century ago
ranked among the world's 10 richest.

Fernandez refused to debate and spent much of the campaign abroad in
photo-ops with world leaders.

Her chic European dresses and designer bags drew comparisons with
"Evita" Peron, another fashion-conscious and politically influential
Argentine first lady.

Fernandez has rejected such comparisons.

"I don't want to be compared with Hillary Clinton or with Evita Peron,
or with anybody," she said recently. "There's nothing better than being
yourself."

The first couple voted early in the province of Santa Cruz, where he
was a three-term governor, before heading back to the capital to await
the outcome.

Fernandez told the crowd of reporters that voting was especially joyful
for her because she grew up under the 1976-83 dictatorship.

"I'm part of a generation that grew up in a country in which nobody
could say anything, so we value this in a very special way," she said.

Voters were also filling dozens of House and Senate seats and nine
governorships.

Exit polls indicated Vice President Daniel Scioli won the governorship
of Buenos Aires province, the country's second most powerful post.

Argentina's 27.1 million registered voters are required by law to cast
ballots, and one couple showed up early after a night of partying in a
car festooned with "just married" signs.

The bride, Marcela Lasalandra, wore a white wedding dress as she filled
out her ballot. The groom, Rodrigo Brito, waited outside in a black
tuxedo.

"I promised Marcela that I'd accompany her everywhere," he said, "so of
course I'm here".