President's Wife Opens Campaign

Argentina's first lady, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, has launched her campaign for the presidency by promising to continue her husband's leftwing economic policies.

Mrs Kirchner, a powerful senator and veteran politician, told a rally in her home town of La Plata on Thursday that she was the best bet to keep the country on the road to recovery following the 2002 financial collapse.

"Presidential elections can't be a game of Russian roulette," she said. "Argentina has new hopes, so there is now a need to keep carrying this model forward."

With the opposition divided she is the runaway favorite to win October's election, with polls predicting a first round victory. Mrs Kirchner has been compared to Hillary Clinton in her ambition to succeed her husband. Others have compared her to Eva Perón, the wife of three times president Juan Domingo Perón.

The 54-year-old first lady's glamor and style are closely monitored by the media and voters but no one doubted she was a formidable political operator even before her presidential bid was signaled two weeks ago.

She used her first campaign hustings to promise change as well as continuity. Under her husband's four-year term Argentina has recovered from economic meltdown. Factories have reopened and the country is running trade and budget surpluses. Néstor Kirchner remains popular and would probably win if he ran again, prompting speculation that he will do so after his wife's term, if she wins.

However, he has suffered setbacks. Allies have lost local elections and been mired in corruption scandals, inflation is high and there has been an energy crisis.

To signal that the couple are not complacent Mrs Kirchner has plastered Buenos Aires with posters declaring "change is only just beginning". If elected she is expected to revamp the cabinet. She did not give policy details beyond vague references to "institutionalizing" existing macroeconomic policy.

The candidate is due to travel to Spain this weekend to polish an image of a globetrotting international player in contrast to her husband, who has preferred to concentrate on domestic policy.