MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Kirchner's public opinion standing strong: 75%

Argentine president Nestor Kirchner support remained strong in June, above 75%, although four points below the May reading, according to the latest public opinion poll from consultants CEOP released in Buenos Aires.

Mr. Kirchner is followed by First Lady, Senator Cristina Fernandez, 59%; vice president Daniel Scioli, 44.9%; and former Economy minister Roberto Lavagna 44.5%. Conservative Mauricio Macri figures with 36.8% and left centre Elisa Carrió with 34.6%.

The poll shows that the image of Mr. Lavagna, the former Finance minister who was the architect of the successful overcoming of the 2001/02 collapse of the Argentine economy and later rescheduling of the country's gigantic foreign debt, is steadily increasing.

Lavagna was picked by caretaker president Eduardo Duhalde and remained with President Nestor Kirchner when he took office in May 2003, but resigned last November and has since become the main critic of the administration's policies.

Economist Lavagna, who defines himself as a Peronist, anticipated he would be running for the presidency in the coming 2007 election if the receives sufficient support from the electorate and opposition groups. So far he can count with the support of former president Ricardo Alfonsin (1983/89) from the Union Civica Radical and Peronist groups that respond to Duhalde.

Although President Kirchner so far has made no official announcement, he has suggested in several occasions his re-election bid but has not excluded his wife as a potential candidate.

The public opinion survey was undertaken during July and also refers to the performance of the Kirchner administration with a support of 69.2%.

As to the slight drop in Kirchner's standing analysts attribute it to several bills sent to Congress which have been described by the opposition as "authoritarian