When opposition presidential candidate Alberto Fernandez addressed a crowd of supporters after his landslide victory in Argentina's primary election, there was one notable absence from the stage: former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Fernandez de Kirchner, a firebrand leftist who is reviled and revered by Argentines in equal measure, has been largely missing from the campaign trail despite running as the vice-presidential candidate on the opposition ticket. She has limited any significant public speaking to appearances surrounding the recent release of her memoir. And even on her typically fiery Twitter feed, she has kept things tame. Political analysts chalked her scarce presence up to strategy, much like her decision to align with moderate Peronist Alberto Fernandez in the first place. Some analysts have suggested that should the left win back the Casa Rosada presidential palace, Fernandez de Kirchner will be the one calling major policy decisions - and not her more softly spoken former chief of staff. Regardless of who would really control the reins of power, Cristina's choice to put Fernandez at the top of the ticket paid off in Sunday's primary vote with the pair recording a staggering 15-point win over incumbent President Mauricio Macri. The primary election results suggest that Fernandez could clinch the presidency in the first round on Oct 27. Now it's just a matter of not rocking the boat before election day, said Benjamin Gedan, director of the Wilson Center's Argentina Project in Washington. "By emerging from hiding, she could alienate many of Alberto Fernandez's moderate supporters who are fed up with austerity, but have no appetite for a return to Cristina's brand of populism and bare-knuckled politics," Gedan said. Fernandez de Kirchner, who faces multiple corruption allegations dating from her two terms as president from 2007 to 2015, is a fixture in headlines for stirring up political drama and no-holds-barred attacks on opponents. At the end of July, she set off a social media storm after comparing the levels of hunger in Argentina with those of Venezuela, which is suffering an economic collapse and humanitarian crisis that has prompted millions to flee the country. -Reuters
