December 11, 2007	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 30, 1428

BUENOS AIRES: The first woman to be elected president of Argentina, Cristina Kirchner was sworn in on Monday, taking over the South American nation’s top job from her husband.

Kirchner, 54, who is often compared to New York Senator Hillary Clinton, was sworn in before the two chambers of Congress in the presence of 160 foreign delegations.

Chants of “Viva Cristina” erupted from the public gallery after outgoing President Nestor Kirchner handed over the presidential staff to his wife.

A first in Argentina, the transfer of power from husband to wife symbolized the political continuity the new president has vowed to follow.

The first couple insisted she alone will make the decisions.

Cristina Kirchner began her political career as a provincial deputy in 1989, and later went on to become a national legislator, gaining notoriety for her vocal battles with then-president Carlos Menem.

In 2005, she became a senator for the province of Buenos Aires, home to 40 percent of Argentina’s electorate.

Her left-of-center politics, like those of her husband, are described as Peronist, a vaguely defined political philosophy named after former president Juan Domingo Peron.

An admirer of US presidential hopeful and former first lady Hillary Clinton, the glamorous “Cristina” is the first woman ever elected to lead Argentina.

She also has been compared to the iconic “Evita,” Peron’s second wife who had a formidable influence on her husband’s government in the 1940s and 1950s but never served as president. Peron’s third wife, Isabel, served as president after his 1974 death but was never elected to the position.