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 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