Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner distanced herself from the government after casting her vote in the Argentine presidential elections on Sunday.

“The president is the one who makes the decisions, I don’t decide policies,” she said after a journalist asked her how she thought people would remember her government, referring to the current administration. 

“My 2015 government will be remembered wonderfully; that’s why we won in 2019,” Kirchner said, adding that opposition journalists “love” to say this government is hers, but that Argentina is a “president-centric country.” She said that her role is limited to presiding over the Senate.

“I don’t decide policies. They didn’t listen to me. In fact, my differences have been public and well-known,” she said. She added that ever since 2020 she has been speaking about the need to “align prices, salaries, utility services, and pensions,” something that, according to her, the government is not doing.

“For better or worse, the president is the one who makes the decisions,” she said, referring to President Alberto Fernández.

Kirchner said that she would continue to be involved in politics, although she wouldn’t take on any institutional role immediately after her tenure as vice president.

“Let’s get rid of this habit of thinking you can only do politics by being on the ballot or having a government position,” she said. “[That’s not how it works], kids, and much less in Peronism.”

The Vice President said that she voted in the school where her late husband and former President Néstor Kirchner used to vote. She added that she had spoken to Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo head Estela de Carlotto, who was celebrating her birthday.

“I hope we have a more sensible country tomorrow, a country where all those who have responsibilities, be that at an institution, a trade union, a social [organization] or a business, know that it will be necessary to agree on some basic issues,” she said.

Kirchner said that the country’s current economic ordeal started in 2018 when former president Mauricio Macri signed a loan with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “It will take a lot of agreements to see how we get out of the mess that means having a debt of over US$45 billion.” 

How the current government was formed

In May 2019, Kirchner announced that Alberto Fernández and herself would compete on a presidential ticket in that year’s elections. 

“I have asked Alberto Fernández to head the ticket that we will form together. He will run for president, and I will run as vice president in the next elections,” she famously said in a video posted on social media.

After winning the 2019 elections against then-president Mauricio Macri, they formed a coalition government. Key positions within the administration were given to people who answered directly to Kirchner — for example, Interior Minister Eduardo “Wado” de Pedro.