Néstor Kirchner

Néstor Carlos Kirchner Ostoic

Became President:	May 25, 2003
Predecessor:	Eduardo Duhalde
Date of Birth:	February 25, 1950
Place of Birth:	Río Gallegos

Néstor Carlos Kirchner Ostoic, born 25 February 1950 in Río Gallegos, is an Argentine politician.

A Peronist with leftist leanings, he has been Governor of Santa Cruz from 1991 until 2003, when he became President of Argentina, defeating former (1989-1999) president Carlos Menem.

Although Menem won the first round of the election on April 27, 2003, he only got 24% of the valid votes -- just 2% ahead of Kirchner. This was a Pyrrhic victory, as Menem had an extremely negative image among a large segment of the Argentine population and had virtually no chance of winning on the run-off. After days of speculation, during which polls forecasted a massive Kirchner victory with about a 30%-40% difference, Menem finally decided to stand down. This automatically made Kirchner president of Argentina.

Kirchner succeeded Duhalde on May 25, 2003.

Next elections would normally be held in 2007.

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