ARGENTINA: President Cristina Fernandez celebrates with thousands of supporters after landslide re-election

Record ID: 446669

  • Title: ARGENTINA: President Cristina Fernandez celebrates with thousands of supporters after landslide re-election
  • Date: 25th October 2011
  • Summary: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (OCTOBER 23, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CHEERING PRESIDENT CRISTINA FERNANDEZ ENTERING WITH VICE PRESIDENT ELECT AMADO BOUDOU VARIOUS OF FERNANDEZ AND BOUDOU GREETING CROWD CROWD WAVING FERNANDEZ SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FERNANDEZ SAYING "This woman is not motivated by ambition. She's not motivated by special interests. She's only motivated by a deep love for Argentina, for the homeland, and for the necessity to honour the memory of (Nestor Kirchner) and thousands like him who gave their lives for the country. I feel that's what I'm responsible for." FERNANDEZ WITH FAMILY
  • Embargoed: 9th November 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina, Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAS8OU9Y53QY0K7T0HITU2SSX6
  • Story Text: Argentina's fiery centre-leftist president, Cristina Fernandez, celebrated on Sunday (October 23) after sweeping to a landslide re-election victory, crowning a comeback that seemed unthinkable for much of her turbulent first term.
    As results continued to roll in, Fernandez had 53 percent support, 36 percentage points ahead of her nearest rival, socialist candidate Hermes Binner.
    No Argentine leader has won such a big share of the vote since General Juan Domingo Peron was elected for the third time with 62 percent in 1973, and tens of thousands of jubilant Fernandez supporters celebrated.
    At her election headquarters, an emotional Fernandez evoked her husband, former President Nestor Kirchner.
    "This woman is not motivated by ambition. She's not motivated by special interests. She's only motivated by a deep love for Argentina, for the homeland, and for the necessity to honour the memory of (Nestor Kirchner) and thousands like him who gave their lives for the country. I feel that's what I'm responsible for," she said.
    Kirchner died a year ago and many thought it spelled the end of the couple's idiosyncratic blend of state intervention, nationalist rhetoric and the championing of human rights.
    Instead, it prompted a wave of nostalgia for the best years of Kirchner's 2003-2007 presidency and sympathy for a woman who suddenly seemed more likeable.
    After speaking at her bunker, Fernandez then went to speak to a crowd of tens of thousands gathered at the square in front of the pink presidential palace. Fireworks, flags bearing the image of Peron's famous wife Evita and Peronist songs filled the square as the president spoke.
    "I've achieved everything I've dreamed of and things I didn't dream of. Who would have thought I could have been re-elected president with the margin we are seeing? Two years ago in this same plaza we Argentines were so confrontational and splintered," she said.
    Sunday's result marks a dramatic change of fortunes for a leader who some critics once said might have to leave power early as angry protests by farmers and middle-class voters battered her approval ratings soon after she took office.
    Generous social spending to expand pensions coverage and child welfare benefits have won her a loyal base of voters.
    A skilled orator fond of glamorous clothes and make-up, Fernandez still wears black as she mourns her husband and closest advisor. His image featured heavily in her campaign.
    Meanwhile, Binner, the most palatable candidate in a splintered opposition, met with his followers, vowing to press on.
    "Our commitment is to the nation, the country, to values. We are going to be here working because this is just beginning," he said.
    Despite double-digit inflation and other signs of strain as global conditions worsen, Argentina's economy is growing at about 8 percent a year and has regained some of its glory as the "breadbasket of the world" as grains shipments rise. Unemployment is at a 20-year low.
    Voters with memories of the hyperinflation of the late 1980s and a severe economic crisis 10 years ago have good reason to think things could be worse than they are today.
    The scale of Fernandez's victory gives her a strong mandate to deepen the unconventional economic policies that play well with voters but irritate investors and farmers.
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