Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in the context of 2011 Argentine general election

Néstor Carlos Kirchner ([ˈnestoɾ ˈkaɾlos ˈkiɾʃneɾ] ; 25 February 1950 – 27 October 2010) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the president of Argentina from 2003 to 2007. A member of the Justicialist Party, he previously served as Governor of Santa Cruz Province from 1991 to 2003, and mayor of Río Gallegos from 1987 to 1991. He later served as first gentleman of Argentina during the early tenure of his wife, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the first person to serve in this role. Ideologically, he identified himself as a Peronist and a progressive, with his political approach called Kirchnerism.

Born in Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz, Kirchner studied law at the National University of La Plata. He met and married Cristina Fernández at this time, returned with her to Río Gallegos at graduation, and opened a law firm. Commentators have criticized him for a lack of legal activism during the Dirty War, an issue he would involve himself in as president. Kirchner ran for mayor of Río Gallegos in 1987 and for governor of Santa Cruz in 1991. He was reelected governor in 1995 and 1999 due to an amendment of the provincial constitution. Kirchner sided with Buenos Aires provincial governor Eduardo Duhalde against President Carlos Menem.

The Justicialist Party (Spanish: Partido Justicialista [paɾˈtiðo xustisjaˈlista], PJ), also known as the Peronist Party (Spanish: Partido Peronista), is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism. Following the 2023 presidential election, it has been the largest party in the opposition against President Javier Milei.

Founded by Juan Perón and his wife, First Lady Eva Perón, the party followed a left-wing agenda based on his policies. It is overall the largest party in Congress. Historically, the party's factual position was undermined by divisions that emerged in the 1990s and lasted until 2020; the PJ was rocked by a conflict between two Peronist tendencies, Kirchnerism, the main, left-wing populist faction, and Federal Peronism, which was located on the centre and centre-right of the political spectrum. The division ended with the failure of Federal Peronism to challenge the dominating Kirchnerist faction in 2019. This was completed by Cristina Kirchner, the leader of Kirchnerism, being elected the leader of the party, and the creation of a separate dissident party — the Federal Consensus. Today, the party adheres to an ideology based on economic intervention, welfare-state policies, and economic independence from wealthier countries; it is located on the centre-left and left wing of the political spectrum.

Kirchnerism (Spanish: Kirchnerismo [kiɾʃneˈɾismo]) is an Argentine centre-left to left-wing political movement based on ideals formed by the supporters of spouses Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who consecutively served as Presidents of Argentina. Although considered a branch of Peronism, it is opposed by some factions of Peronists and generally considered to fall into the category of left-wing populism. It is considered a representative of the socialism of the 21st century, although similarly to Peronism and in contrast to other left-wing ideologies, it is highly nationalist and populist rather than class-based.

Although originally a section in the Justicialist Party, Kirchnerism later received support from other smaller Argentine political parties (like the Communist Party or the Humanist Party) and from factions of some traditional parties (like the Radical Civic Union and the Socialist Party). In parties which are divided along Kirchnerist and anti-Kirchnerist lines, the members of the Kirchnerist faction are often distinguished with the letter K (for instance "peronistas K", "justicialistas K", "radicales K", or "socialistas K") while the anti-Kirchnerist factions, those opposing Kirchnerism, are similarly labelled with the expression "anti-K".

Argentina held national presidential and legislative elections on Sunday, 28 October 2007, and elections for provincial governors took place on staggered dates throughout the year. For the national elections, each of the 23 provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires are considered electoral districts. Voter turnout was 76.2%. Buenos Aires Province Senator and First Lady Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of the Front for Victory won the election by 45.28% of votes against Elisa Carrió of Civic Coalition ARI, making her the second female president of Argentina and the first female president to be directly elected. She broke the 40 percent barrier and won in the first round. Elisa Carrió won in the city of Buenos Aires and came second with more than 20 percent of the votes. Third was Roberto Lavagna, who won in Córdoba.

Socialism of the 21st century is an interpretation of socialist principles first advocated by German sociologist and political analyst Heinz Dieterich and taken up by a number of Latin American leaders. Dieterich argued in 1996 that both free-market industrial capitalism and 20th-century socialism have failed to solve urgent problems of humanity such as poverty, hunger, exploitation of labour, economic oppression, sexism, racism, the destruction of natural resources and the absence of true democracy. Socialism of the 21st century has democratic socialist elements, but it also resembles Marxist revisionism.

Leaders who have advocated for this form of socialism include Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Michelle Bachelet of Chile. Because of the local unique historical conditions, socialism of the 21st century is often contrasted with previous applications of socialism in other countries, with a major difference being the effort towards a more effective economic planning process. Outside Latin America, socialism of the 21st century has been promoted by left-wing leaders such as Mark Drakeford and Jeremy Corbyn in the United Kingdom and Lothar Bisky, Egon Krenz and Oskar Lafontaine in Germany, and also by parties such as the Communist Party of Spain and United Left in Spain and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and Just Russia.