MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

CK begins in Spain the campaign trail leading to October 28

Senator Cristina Fernadez arrives to Madrid

Argentine Senator Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner begins this Monday in Madrid her first overseas tour since becoming presidential candidate with the purpose of increasing bilateral relations with Spain. Argentine elections are scheduled for October 28.

Three days after having launched her candidacy Ms Kirchner is scheduled to meet with King Juan Carlos, president Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, vice president Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega and will be presented by Trinidad Jimenez, minister for Iberoamerican affairs to a meeting with Spanish politicians, businessmen and diplomats. Monday midday she will share lunch with the royal family in the summer residence, a rare concession since the King has just begun his holidays and when in Palace Marivent he only signs official business and receives heads of state. In the afternoon she will meet a living Republican icon of the Spanish Civil War, writer Francisco Ayala, 101, who was exiled in Argentina between 1936/39. Tuesday the First Lady will be the only speaker at the lunch organized by New Economy Forum and Europa Press where she will have to answer questions from the Spanish business elite, plus politicians and diplomats interested in meeting the candidate and according to the polls, the hopeful with greater chances of becoming Argentina's next president. In the afternoon she is scheduled to meet President Rodriguez Zapatero at the official Moncloa palace and later with vice president Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, who is considered by the Spanish opposition as one of the toughest members of the ruling Socialist party. On Wednesday Mrs Kirchner will pay tribute to the memory of those killed in the March 11, 2002 attacks in the Atocha train station and later has been invited to lunch at the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations currently chaired by Gerardo Dias Ferran, owner of the Marsans group that controls Aerolineas Argentinas. Her visit anticipated significant press coverage and she has scheduled interviews with CNN in Spanish and with Spain's main daily, El Pais. Spanish ambassador Rafael Estrella Pedrola Spain's ambassador in Buenos Aires said that "in general terms, Spain is very satisfied with the degree of understanding and sharing of strategic views that the relations with Argentina are reaching ... and with the view that that we have many shared elements regarding the challenges faced in the 21st century and what we want to do together in this globalized world. Therefore we hope that that shared strategic view grows deeper with whoever the people of Argentina choose to govern them". On her return to Buenos Aires, Mrs Kirchner will prepare for a similar visit to Mexico and then it's full campaign in Argentina. "She's scheduled to tour all Argentine provinces twice, similar to what happened when she was elected in 2005 to the Senate for the province of Buenos Aires", said one of the ministers actively working in her campaign. Contrary to her husband's unpunctuality and lack of protocol, Mrs Kirchner ("CK style") seems more professional, better organized and maybe a bit too cool and distant for the populist Peronist movement. "We have to conquer other segments, and we don't need them to register as Peronists. They can help us if we agree on the fundamentals", points out the candidate in private according to political analysts. But the "CK style" in essence and substance is not necessarily different from her husband's administration: her two closest aides and advisors are Alberto Fernandez, cabinet chief and Carlos Zannini Legal and Technical Secretary. Together with the Kirchner couple and Planning minister Julio De Vido they make up the short list of who effectively runs Argentina.