Argentina Prez Fernandez Wins in Landslide

(Newser) – As expected, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez won yesterday's presidential election in Argentina in a landslide, reports AP. Her big win was the first time a woman has been re-elected president anywhere in Latin America. It represented a stunning turnaround for Fernandez, whose popularity dropped as low as 20% during her presidency. With nearly half the polling stations reporting, Fernandez has won 53% of votes cast—well ahead of her closest competitor, who had just 17%—which gives her the largest share of the ballot of any president since Argentina returned to democracy in 1983. Her margin of victory is on track to be larger even than Juan Domingo Peron's in 1972.

Since its record debt default in 2001, Argentina's economy has become one of the fastest growing in the world, kickstarted first during the administration of Fernandez's late husband Nestor Kirchner, who was elected president in 2003. Fernandez was later elected in 2007, and has campaigned on an economic record of government spending over austerity. "All I want is to keep collaborating, to keep Argentina growing," said Fernandez in her victory speech. "I want to keep changing history."