Nationalization of oil supplies In April 2010, Argentina's president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner introduced a bill on April 16, 2012, for the expropriation of YPF, the nation's largest energy firm. The state would purchase a 51% share, with the national government controlling 51% of this package and ten provincial governments receiving the remaining 49%. Investment in exploration at YPF as a percentage of profits had been far below those in most other Repsol subsidiaries, and declines in output at the firm represented 54% of the nation's lost oil production and 97% in the case of natural gas. Market analysts and Repsol blamed the decline
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner However, with 13 challengers splitting the vote, Kirchner won the election decisively in the first round with just over 45% of the vote, followed by 23% for Elisa Carrió (candidate for the Civic Coalition) and 17% for former Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna. Kirchner was popular among the suburban working class and the rural poor, while Carrió and Lavagna both received more support from the urban middle class. Kirchner lost the election in the large cities of Buenos Aires and Rosario. On 14 November, the president-elect announced the names of her new cabinet, which was sworn in on 10 December. Of