Fernández de Kirchner, Cristina (1953-…), was elected vice president of Argentina in 2019. She also served as president of Argentina from 2007 to 2015. She was the first woman elected as the nation’s president. She succeeded her husband, Néstor Kirchner, who was president from 2003 to 2007. As president, Fernández de Kirchner gained popularity for her social welfare programs. Polititically, she has roots in the Justicialist Party (PJ), founded by former Argentine President Juan Perón. In general, the PJ supports populist policies—that is, policies aiming to help common people.
Cristina Elisabet Fernández was born on Feb. 19, 1953, in La Plata, Argentina, near the city of Buenos Aires. She studied law at the National University of La Plata. Fernández met fellow student Néstor Kirchner in 1974, and they married in 1975. Later, the couple started a law practice in Néstor’s home province of Santa Cruz. In the mid-1980’s, they became heavily involved in provincial politics and in the Justicialist Party. Fernández de Kirchner represented Santa Cruz province in Argentina’s legislature, the National Congress, from 1995 to 2005. She served in both legislative houses—the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. From 2005 to 2007, she was a senator for Buenos Aires province.
The popular economic policies of Néstor Kirchner’s presidency boosted support for Fernández de Kirchner’s presidential run in 2007. She was elected president on October 28 with about 45 percent of the vote. In 2008, Fernández de Kirchner tried unsuccessfully to raise agricultural export taxes. Her proposal set off a massive wave of strikes and protests. In 2009 National Congress elections, the president’s supporters lost their majorities in both legislative houses. Fernández de Kirchner’s popularity revived after she began implementing programs to redistribute wealth. Such programs included unemployment assistance and the distribution of food to poor people. Fernández de Kirchner also increased funding for public works projects in the poorer regions of Argentina. In 2010, her government made Argentina the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage.
In October 2010, Néstor Kirchner died suddenly of a heart attack. On Oct. 23, 2011, Fernández de Kirchner was reelected president by a landslide. During her second term, she continued to promote popular wealth-redistribution programs. However, Argentina’s economy experienced high inflation, weak economic growth, and a large deficit. In addition, corruption scandals and conflict with her critics troubled Fernández de Kirchner’s administration. She was ineligible to run for reelection in 2015, because she had served two consecutive terms as president.
Fernández de Kirchner secured a seat in Argentina’s Senate in 2017 mid-term elections. In 2019, she was elected vice president of Argentina. She ran with presidential candidate Alberto Fernández of the Peronist coalition Frente de Todos (Everyone’s Front).
In 2022, a federal court convicted Fernández de Kircher of fraudulently directing public works contracts to a business associate during her presidency. She was sentenced to six years in prison and banned from holding public office. However, her position in the government gave her immunity from arrest and allowed her to remain in office pending action by a higher court.
