(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-10-28 16:36

BUENOS AIRES - Argentines vote for a new president on Sunday with first lady Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner poised to succeed her husband in a rare democratic handover between spouses.

Argentina's first lady senator presidential candidate Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner smiles in front of a picture of Eva Peron in Buenos Aires, in this July 26, 2007 file photo. Fernandez, who is expected to follow the center-left policies of her popular husband, President Nestor Kirchner, will be Argentina's first elected woman president if she wins in Argentina Sunday's elections. Photo taken July 2007.  [Agencies]

Many Argentines credit center-left President Nestor Kirchner with pulling the country out of a dramatic economic crisis and using growth of 8 percent a year to create jobs, raise salaries and expand pension benefits.

A longtime senator, Fernandez has been Kirchner's top advisor in his four-year presidency. Voters tired of boom-bust cycles hope she will sustain the bonanza he has overseen, even as high inflation and energy shortages cause concern.

"I'm voting for Cristina Kirchner to deepen the change that began in 2004, which clearly benefited the working-class majority," said Luciano Alvarez, a 33-year-old social worker.

If she wins, Fernandez will be the first elected woman president in Argentine history.

She would avoid a runoff election by getting at least 45 percent of the votes on Sunday, or more than 40 percent with a 10 percentage point lead over her nearest rival.

Recent polls show Fernandez with between 39.5 percent and 49.4 percent of votes. Former lawmaker and anti-corruption crusader Elisa Carrio trailed far behind, with around 20 percent support.

Roberto Lavagna, Kirchner's economy minister until late 2005, was in third place with a maximum of 19 percent.

All three candidates are center-leftists, showing that most Argentines reject the free-market policies of the 1990s, which they blame for the economic meltdown in 2001-02.

Fernandez would be the latest to join the growing ranks of leftist leaders in South America. But while she is expected to stay friendly with Venezuela's firebrand socialist president, Hugo Chavez, she, like her husband, is seen as more moderate.

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