Néstor Kirchner

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 the polls forecasted a massive Kirchner victory with about a 30% to 40% difference, Menem finally decided to stand down. This automatically made Kirchner presidency of Argentina.

Kirchner succeeded Duhalde on May 25.