The art of the possible

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner waves to well-wishers. Photograph: Reuters

With her passionate public speeches, elaborate dressing and cosmopolitan glamour, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner evokes memories of Eva "Evita" Perón, who captured the world's attention more than half a century ago.

But although both played a considerable influence over their presidential husbands and enjoyed considerable support from Argentina's poor working communities, the comparisons are limited. Evita, an actress who entered politics shortly after marrying Juan Perón, died in her early 30s, only to be reincarnated by an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.

Mrs Kirchner, though never far from her husband whom she met at law school in her youth, is seen by supporters as having built a career largely on her own merit.

"I don't want to inherit anything from Eva, or from [my husband] Kirchner. Everything I've got is a result of my own achievements, and my own defects too," she has said.

Mrs Kirchner, 54, boasts that she won her first national election, as senator for the Patagonian Santa Cruz province, when her husband was a mere state official (he was the governor). When Mr Kirchner moved into the presidency, she switched her residence, and became a senator for powerful Buenos Aires province.

Mrs Kirchner was born into a middle-class family. At law school, she and her husband-to-be shared bold, brash personalities and centre-left ideals to match. They married in 1975 and have two children: Maximo, 30, and Florencia, 16.

After many left-wing students - including some of their friends - were kidnapped during the disappearances of the 1970s' military regime, the couple moved from La Plata to the southern tip of the Argentinian mainland, setting up a property law office in Río Gallegos. Mr Kirchner became mayor, then governor. She moved up through local legislatures before running for the national senate.

As senator, Mrs Kirchner drove her husband's legislative agenda through Congress and helped him lobby the courts to prosecute atrocities of the 1976-83 dictatorship. She also became active in causes of her own, especially in defending women's rights.

When Mr Kirchner decided not to run for re-election and instead nominated his wife, critics saw a plot to bypass term limits. He has never explained his decision not to stand for a second term nor what he plans to do next - though it is well known that he prefers to work behind the scenes while his wife appears happy in front of the cameras. Her campaign was dominated by photo opportunities with foreign leaders.

As president, she is expected to continue her husband's policies, but critics noted her final campaign speech was dominated by Mr Kirchner's achievements rather than her own intentions.

Apart from Evita, she is also regularly compared to Hillary Clinton: both are lawyers and senators and married to former governors who became presidents. But unlike Mrs Clinton - a front-runner Democratic candidate for next year's US presidential election - Mrs Kirchner has not had to campaign hard or publicly debate with her opponents.

Her victory is seen in part down to her own political achievements, but is also attributed to those of her husband in bringing the country back from the economic crisis six years ago, and to the failure of more than a dozen opposition candidates to forge alliances and pool support.

Among the challenges that Mrs Kirchner will face is tackling the country's inflation rate which has crept into double figures following the devaluation of the Peso. She must deal with energy shortages which have led to regular power cuts and - like most Argentinian governments - is likely to have to deal with periodic allegations of corruption.

She also faces the task to maintaining strong links with Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez, who has poured billions of dollars into Argentina, while staying on friendly terms with the US and other countries.

Mrs Kirchner has a keen eye for detail and a reputation for sometimes being bossy and quick-tempered.

"She's an obsessive and impetuous person who likes everything to be just so," Jose Angel Di Mauro, the author of a book about the first lady, told Reuters. "If you're talking to her and you pick up a book from the coffee table, she'll move it back to exactly where it was beforehand."

She becomes Argentina's second woman president - Isabel Perón, who married Evita's widower, was Juan Perón's vice president when he died in 1974, and served for 20 chaotic months before a military coup ousted her.

Mrs Kirchner's heavy make-up and expensive clothes sometimes attract more attention than her policies, but she shrugs off criticism that she is overly image-conscious and flatly denies she has undergone plastic surgery.

"I've always got dressed up, caked on the make-up," she said in an interview last week. "Would I have to dress like I was poor in order to be a good political leader?"