Argentine Leader’s Wife May Inherit His Troubles

BUENOS AIRES, July 8 — Néstor Kirchners decision not to seek a second term as president of Argentina and instead step aside in favor of his wifes candidacy has been described both as an act of generosity and canny political calculation. But his wife, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, faces several traps, mostly of her husbands making, during the campaign that lies ahead, and even more if, as expected, she wins the October election.

After four years, Mr. Kirchner, 57, enjoys a level of job approval and popularity here that are unusual for someone in office that long. But his numbers have been slipping in recent months, the result of problems and controversies that have emerged in both the political and economic realms.

The horizon holds some clouds for her, said Graciela Romer, a leading poll taker and political analyst here. In the short term, everything seems sunny. But the forecast has to be that of a high probability of storm clouds, especially if the economic situation stagnates.

When Mr. Kirchner squeezed into office in 2003 with less than a quarter of the popular vote, he promised to usher in a new era of openness and transparency in government and to clean up corruption. But the complaints about him now are that he has concentrated all power in the executive branch and run roughshod over the legislature and courts.

Not only has there been no change, but he has re-created the old structures of a centralized presidency, said Luis Alberto Romero, the author of A History of Argentina in the 20th Century and a university professor. Kirchner has rebuilt the authority of the presidency at the expense of democratic institutions that have been constructed with great effort since the end of the military dictatorship in 1982.

On the corruption front, Mr. Kirchners left-leaning administration was able to portray itself as having clean hands until recently. Late in 2005, Roberto Lavagna, then the economy minister, complained of what he called cronyism in the awarding of government contracts, but Mr. Kirchner took no public action other than to force him to resign, and no proof of such irregularities ever surfaced.

But since March, Mr. Kirchner has had to contend with clear indications of corruption in a large gas pipeline project. When one of the companies involved in the endeavor, the Swedish construction company Skanska, did an internal audit, it found evidence of what it described as improper payments by some of its executives, who have since been fired. Opposition legislators, who say that as much as $25 million may be involved, news reports and an investigating judge say the money appears to have gone to Argentine government officials.

Then, last month, another controversy emerged. Fire inspectors making what was said to be a routine check of the offices of the new economy minister, Felisa Miceli, found a large amount of cash, in both local currency and dollars, stashed in her bathroom.

Initial news reports put the total at nearly $250,000, but on Friday, after an official investigation was announced, Ms. Miceli said the correct amount was $64,000. Opposition figures have suggested that the money was either part of a government slush fund or evidence of illegal enrichment on her part, but Ms. Miceli said she borrowed most of it from a brother for a real estate transaction she hoped to make.

It seems to me there was naïveté and stupidity on my part, said Ms. Miceli, who has previously been accused of manipulating inflation figures to benefit Mr. Kirchner, in an interview with the countrys three main newspapers that was published Friday. It was a mistake, there could have been negligence, but I am certain that I have not committed a crime.

Mr. Kirchner, already campaigning for his wife, a 54-year old senator, said last week that her government would be even better than his and would deepen change. But, with the recent corruption allegations apparently in mind, he also warned Friday of what he said would be a dirty campaign against Cristina.

In municipal and provincial elections on June 24, said to have precipitated Mr. Kirchners decision to step aside, an opposition candidate from a center-left party with a strong anticorruption platform won the governorship in Tierra del Fuego. But the main challenge to the Kirchners came here in the capital, where a conservative, Mauricio Macri, easily beat their handpicked candidate for mayor.

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