Congratulations to Cristina Fernández de Kirchner who has become the first woman to be elected president in Argentina’s history. Kirchner, 54, is the wife of current President of Argentina, Néstor Kirchner and a former senator for Buenos Aires Province. In the Oct, 2007 general election, Mrs. Kirchner, she ran for president of Argentina, representing the ruling Front for Victory party, a center-left Peronist party.

Fernández is the second woman to be elected leader of a South American nation in two years, after Michelle Bachelet, who became Chile’s president last year.

According to official results from the ministry of interior, Fernández had 45 percent of the votes, ahead of Elisa Carrio, a center-left congresswoman, who had 23 percent, and Roberto Lavagna, a former finance minister, who had 17 percent. This would be the widest margin a candidate has obtained since democracy returned in Argentina in 1983.

Fernández started her political career in the Peronist Youth movement of the Justicialist Party in the 1970s. She was elected Deputy to the provincial legislature of Santa Cruz in 1989, and subsequently re-elected in 1993. In 1995, she was elected to represent Santa Cruz in the Senate and in 1997 in the Chamber of Deputies. In 2001, she won again a seat in the Senate.

Cristina was born in a middle-class family in the city of La Plata, the capital of the province of Buenos Aires, on Feb. 19, 1953, a few months after the death of Eva Duarte (Evita), the wife of the former President Juan Domingo Perón (1946-1955 and 1973-1974), who became a powerful leader in her own right as first lady and was his vice president and became president after his death.

Cristina’s parents who were also involved in Argentina’s political parties during her childhood. Her father was a bus driver and her mother a homemaker. He belonged to the Radical Civic Union (UCR) and she to the Justicialista (Peronist) Party – the two forces that governed Argentina throughout the 20th century.

After beginning her studies in psychology, she entered law school at the University of La Plata where she met Néstor and where both were activists in the Peronist movement. They later moved to Mr. Kirchner’s home province of Santa Cruz, in Patagonia, where Fernández was elected a senator before her husband began his political career.

It has been said that Cristina is considered to be combative, which in a patriarchal world would be seen as being cold. It also has been said that she avoids contact with people and is not easily moved. If she cries, she does so in private. It interesting how these qualities are admired with men, but seen as a flaw for women.

Olga Wornat, author of the authorized biography, titled “Queen Cristina,” describes Fernández as indomitable, intelligent, controversial, bold in challenging the status quo, and “ambitious like no other woman since Evita.” When it comes appearance and intelligence, Cristina told Wornat that “the idea that if you are attractive you have to prove that you are intelligent always irritated me.”

Declaring victory late on Sunday, Cristina said she felt a responsibility not only to lead her country, but “an immense responsibility for my gender.”

“I want to reach out to all women – to those who have stayed at home, to the factory workers, to the university students, to the professionals and the business women,” she said. “I know that we can accomplish great work with the special skills that we have.”

Her election extends the trend of left-leaning elected governments in Latin America, although she is more moderate than the Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez. Mrs Kirchner is expected to maintain her husband’s friendly relations with Chavez.

Fernández has vowed to continue the work of her husband after winning a presidential election widely seen as a referendum on his economic policies. She has fiercely rejected the pro-market policies of the 1990s, which she blames for the 2001 crisis. She also backs a weak peso to help “re-industrialize” Argentina and boost exports. She has called for a broad “social pact” between the government, big business and unions on how to sustain growth, and share its benefits, in the longer term.

Congratulations Cristina Fernández de Kirchner!

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