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FACTBOX-Facts about Argentina's power couple
Reuters
June 24, 2009

June 24 (Reuters) - Former President Nestor Kirchner, the husband of President Cristina Fernandez, is running for a seat in Congress in Argentina's mid-term election on Sunday in an effort to shore up her weakened government.

Here are some key facts about the power couple that has run the country for six years:

* Kirchner and Fernandez have taken turns in the political limelight since they met at law school in the 1970s. She was a close advisor during his 2003-2007 administration and he is seen as the mastermind of her economic policy while he also presides over the fractious, ruling Peronist party.

* Fernandez was a high-profile senator when her husband was elected president by default in 2003 after former President Carlos Menem quit the race. As Argentines reeled from an acute economic crisis, Kirchner painted himself as a moderate and oversaw an economic recovery that paved the way for her 2007 election.

* Both Kirchner and Fernandez make fiery speeches peppered with leftist rhetoric and outspoken criticism of political rivals, private companies, the media and the International Monetary Fund. They rarely give interviews or news conferences, preferring to announce major policy changes at rallies.

* Kirchner's restructuring of $100 billion in defaulted debt won him plaudits at home but irked investors and the country is still shut out of global credit markets. The global credit crunch scuttled Fernandez's tentative efforts to make peace with foreign government creditors and bondholders [nN24444553].

* The power pair's popularity ratings slumped due to a bitter conflict with farmers, a worsening economic outlook and disenchantment with their combative style. They still have a bedrock of support in Buenos Aires province, Argentina's richest electoral prize. (Writing by Helen Popper Buenos Aires; Editing by Fiona Ortiz and Vicki Allen)

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