Argentina:Argentina went to the polls yesterday with the first lady, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the runaway favourite to become president, succeeding her husband.
Opinion polls predicted she would easily defeat a crowded field of 13 rivals to become the country's first elected woman head of state.
Mrs Kirchner, a lawyer-turned-senator, is running on her record as half of the power couple which revived the economy after Argentina's 2001 financial meltdown.
Her husband, President Nestor Kirchner, delivered rapid growth and populist policies which most Argentines want to continue.
Since Mr Kirchner announced he would step down, the first lady has dominated every opinion poll.
Some polls have given her more than 40 per cent, with a lead of more than 10 per cent over her nearest rival - enough to avoid a run-off.
She has been compared to Hillary Clinton, but unlike the US Democrats' frontrunner she has not had to campaign hard, debate with rivals or spell out her policies in detail.
The first couple cast their ballots in the southern province of Santa Cruz, their power base, and were due to fly back to Buenos Aires last night.
Mrs Kirchner told reporters that she savoured voting because of the 1976-1983 dictatorship.
"I'm part of a generation that grew up in a country in which nobody could say anything. So we value this in a very special way."
- (Guardian service)