Congratulations, President-Elect Fernández de Kirchner! Last night Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, of the Justicialist party, was elected president of Argentina. Fernández de Kirchner, a laywer, politician, and Peronist for the last 30 years, and served two terms in the Senate. Her politics are left-leaning and her campaign strongly emphasized social justice and human rights.


In her opening speech as president-elect, she declared her alliance with the more left-leaning Peronists, and also mentioned gender issues. To wild applause from women in the audience in this video, she speaks of her double responsiblity, not just as a member of a political forum, that conducts the business of a nation, but also she bears the immense responsibility for, or because of, her gender. She speaks to women to use their abilities from bridging the private and public sphere, and their responsibility to pull together the country's differences.

Tengo el honor más grande que se le puede conferir a un argentino, pero también quiero decirles que me siento con una doble responsabilidad también por el género. Permítanme dirigirme a mis hermanas de género para convocarlas a todas: sé que podemos desarrollar una gran tarea porque tenemos aptitudes especiales.
I have the greatest honor that can be conferred on an argentine, but also I want to say that I feel with double responsibility also because of my gender. I'd like to say to my sisters to summon us all, I know that we can build a great work, because we have special ability.

It is interesting that the candidate in 2nd place was also a center-leftist, Elisa Carrió.

Feminist Law Professors points out the annoying "fashion and hair" slant that media takes on Fernández de Kirchner. Yes, I noticed this everywhere in the U.S. media. No, I don't want to link to those articles or dissect all the ways they are dumb. Seriously, enough of it. Any decent editor would edit that stuff right out as not relevant to politics. And they should edit it out about Clinton too.

Monica Crowley gives us a funny quote from Fernández de Kirchner from a few months ago, denying the comparison with Clinton:

"Hillary was able to position herself nationally because her husband was president. She didn't have a political life beforehand, and that isn't my case . . . I'm a real feminist," she suggested. "I was in elected politics on my own. I'm not a derivative of my husband. I'm no Hillary Clinton." (source uncertain - translated from a broadcast of CNN en Español?)

Montserrat Boix blogs here about Cristina's name, and sexism in reporting.

Estupenda notícia la de que Argentina tenga una mujer presidenta. Menos estupendo es que en muchos medios de comunicación prime el destacar que es la esposa del actual presidente, olvidando la trayectoria política de Cristina. Y peor me parece que para hablar de ella nos olvidemos directamente su apellido y se utilice la fórmula de Cristina Kirchner.
Amazing news that Argentina has a female president. Less amazing is that in many media sources they first highlight that she's the wife of the current president, leaving out the political career of Cristina. And it seems even worse to me that in talking about her they forget her last name and use the form of "Cristina Kirchner".

Bettina of Mujeres en la blogosfera links to an article by Marcela Valente, pointing out that Fernández de Kirchner and her husband have been politically linked for a long time, and are two branches of the same tree: Elecciones Argentina. Right wing bloggers like Kate like to compare Kirchner to Evita (which I believe is terribly unfair, and not apt) and to mention that she has good diplomatic relations with Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. Others like Martha Colmenares are saying there was fraud at the voting booths. Meanwhile, I've read many posts by radicals who feel that Fernández de Kirchner isn't radical enough, especially on questions of human rights, but instead has been courting foreign investment too hard.

From a few news sources, I found a little information on the new President's political opinions. She did not respond to questions about the legalization of abortion. Reuters reports that in some areas, she has said she will (or is deemed likely to) continue what Néstor Kirchner and the rest of her party's line: control inflation by creating surpluses and putting in price controls, and mediation between unions and corporations. Her foreign policy is "more active" than Néstor's was, and she has put emphasis on strengthening Congress, regulatory agencies, and other democratic institutions.

Oddly, I have not found many details on blogs. I think to figure out her political position, or policies, I'd have to go and find the text of some of her speeches, or her voting record as a senator. Political bloggers in Argentina must be talking about her, but I haven't found many of their discussions. I really expected to find more. More than just right-wing pundits saying a few snarky things! Is it that everyone is distracted by lame comparisons of her to Hilary or Evita? Or is it that people assume she will just do exactly as Néstor did? That seems unlikely. Am I not looking in the right places? Blogueras hermanas, where should I be reading to find out a more detailed view?