MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina's options: Kirchner or Kirchner

Argentina's First Lady, Senator Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is positioned to become the government's candidate for next year's presidential election, wrote analyst Joaquín Morales Solá in his Thursday column of La Nacion.

Considered the best informed analyst of the Argentine political scenario and who regularly airs his comments on paper, radio and television, Morales Solá reveals that President Nestor Kirchner has personally mentioned his wife's name to several political allies with whom he is building an electoral alliance for the challenging 2007.

"I'm leaving. But Cristina will stay on", was Kirchner's message.

Furthermore, a similar confession was done to Spain's Secretary for Ibero-America, Trinidad Jimenez, (a woman) who recently visited Montevideo and Buenos Aires. . "The next Argentine president will be a woman", he assured the visiting minister.

According to Morales Solá the president's current decision to drop his own re-election bid can be traced to the recent landslide rejection from the electorate of one of Argentina's poorest provinces which against all odds, voted down a reform to enable the local governor, --and Kirchner ally--, an "indefinite re-election".

A political instrument recourse pioneered by the Kirchners in their Santa Cruz province.

If the Misiones attempt had been successful, other governors from politically heavyweight provinces were lined up to follow suit, including the all powerful Buenos Aires province.

But the 700.000 voters of dirt poor Misiones led by a bishop, with the Catholic Church blessing, organized a "dignity front" causing one of the Kirchner administration's greatest political defeat.

However Morales Solá also points out that Mr. Kirchner has proved to have a sharp political talent and the idea of floating the First Lady's name could give him breathing space. Opinion polls show him garnering the re-election bid in the first round, but not so Mrs Kirchner.

Besides the collapse of the "indefinite re-election" proposal leaves the governorship of the crucial province of Buenos Aires open and several hopefuls from the Kirchner first line have tossed their hats into the ring, and why exclude Mrs Kirchner's, a very popular senator for the much coveted province with 14 million citizens.

Morales Solá nevertheless ends his column recalling that President Kirchner is quick to respond when "reality says no" and, not let us forget that Mr. Kirchner has the purse strings of an economy booming for the fourth straight year, plus the fact there's no organized opposition on sight.