Néstor Kirchner fanned by the political weight of Buenos Aires province (the most populous in Argentina, with almost 40 percent of the national vote), and continued through the 2005 midterm elections. Without consensus in the PJ for a candidate for senator in the Buenos Aires province, both leaders had their wives run for office: Hilda González de Duhalde for the PJ and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner for the Front for Victory, which contested the election as a different party. Cristina Kirchner won the election. As in 2003, the elections were defined by Peronist factions; the opposition parties could not put up a
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner the chamber of deputies, including the number of legislators needed for quorum. The Kirchners had lost that majority in the 2009 elections. She invited children on stage during the celebrations, and Vice President Amado Boudou played an electric guitar. As she had in 2007, she gave a conciliatory speech. When she first took office, Cristina Kirchner replaced the previous minister of economy, Miguel Gustavo Peirano, who had been appointed by her husband as former president. Peirano was succeeded by Martín Lousteau in December 2007. He served as the first of several ministers of economy under her presidency. The attempt to