Alberto Fernández

Alberto Ángel Fernández (born 2 April 1959) is an Argentine politician, lawyer, and academic who is the President of the Justicialist Party since 2021.

Nominated by newly elected President Carlos Menem to serve as Superintendent of Insurance, Fernández served as President of the Latin American Insurance Managers' Association from 1989 to 1992, and co-founded the Insurance Managers International Association.

He also served as adviser to Mercosur and ALADI on insurance law, and was involved in insurance and health services companies in the private sector.

Fernández was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young People of Argentina in 1992, and was awarded the Millennium Award as one of the nation's Businessmen of the Century.

During this time he became politically close to former Buenos Aires Province Governor Eduardo Duhalde.

His tenure as Cabinet Chief remains the longest since the post was created in 1994.

Born in Buenos Aires, Fernández attended the University of Buenos Aires, where he earned his law degree at age 24, and later became a professor of criminal law.

Ideologically a Peronist, entered public service as an adviser to Deliberative Council of Buenos Aires and the Argentine Chamber of Deputies.

He was elected on 7 June 2000, to the Buenos Aires City Legislature on the conservative Action for the Republic ticket led by former Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo.

He was also the Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers from 2003 to 2008.

In 2003, he was appointed Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers, serving during the entirety of the presidency of Néstor Kirchner, and the early months of the presidency of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

He gave up his seat when he was appointed Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers by President Néstor Kirchner upon taking office on 25 May 2003, and retained the same post under Kirchner's wife and successor, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, upon her election in 2007.

A new system of variable taxes on agricultural exports led to the 2008 Argentine government conflict with the agricultural sector, during which Fernández acted as the government's chief negotiator.

The negotiations failed, however, and following Vice President Julio Cobos' surprise, tie-breaking vote against the bill in the Senate, Fernández resigned on 23 July 2008.

He was named head of the City of Buenos Aires chapter of the Justicialist Party, but minimized his involvement in Front for Victory campaigns for Congress in 2009.

Fernández actively considered seeking the Justicialist Party presidential nomination ahead of the 2011 general elections.

He ultimately endorsed President Cristina Kirchner for re-election, however.

He was campaign manager of the presidential candidacy of Sergio Massa in 2015.

He was previously the 57th President of Argentina from 2019 to 2023.

A member of the Justicialist Party, a Peronist party, Fernández was the party's candidate for the 2019 presidential election under the leftist Frente de Todos alliance and defeated incumbent president Mauricio Macri with 48% of the vote.

His political position has been described as left-wing.

The first two years of his presidency was limited by the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina, during which he imposed strict lockdown measures to suppress the spread of the disease, and a debt crisis inherited from his predecessor.

While the economy recovered in 2021–22, inflation rose to 100% (the highest since 1991).

His approval ratings have been constantly low throughout his presidency, only in few certain occasions over 50% approval rate, with disapproval ratings from 60% to 80%.

According to British newspaper The Economist, Fernández was considered "a president without a plan", and his presidency to be a "weak administration", alluding to his lack of independent decision-making.

Instead, his decisions were under heavy influence of Vice President and former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, also leader of the coalition, whom Fernández himself described as a "permanent source of consultation".

In April 2023, Fernández announced that he decided to not seek reelection to the presidency in the 2023 presidential election.

He was succeeded by Javier Milei on 10 December 2023.

Fernández was born in Buenos Aires, the son of Celia Pérez and her first husband.

Separated from the latter, Celia (sister of the personal photographer of Juan Domingo Perón) married Judge Carlos Pelagio Galíndez (son of a Senator of the Radical Civic Union).

Alberto Fernández, who barely knew his biological father, considers Pelagio to be his father.

Alberto Fernández attended the University of Buenos Aires Faculty of Law.

He graduated at the age of 24, and later became a professor of criminal law.

He entered public service as an adviser to Deliberative Council of Buenos Aires and the Argentine Chamber of Deputies.

He became deputy director of Legal Affairs of the Economy Ministry, and in this capacity served as chief Argentine negotiator at the GATT Uruguay Round.

On 18 May 2019, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced that Fernández would be a candidate for president, and that she would run for vice president alongside him, hosting his first campaign rally with Santa Cruz Governor Alicia Kirchner, sister-in-law of the former Kirchner.

About a month later, seeking to broaden his appeal to moderates, Fernández struck a deal with Sergio Massa to form an alliance called Frente de Todos, wherein Massa would be offered a role within a potential Fernández administration, or be given a key role within the Chamber of Deputies in exchange for dropping out of the presidential race and offering his support.

Fernández also earned the endorsement of the General Confederation of Labor, receiving their support in exchange for promising that he will boost the economy, and that there will be no labor reform.

On 11 August 2019, Fernández won first place in the 2019 primary elections, earning 47.7% of the vote, compared to incumbent President Mauricio Macri's 31.8%.

Fernández thereafter held a press conference where he said he called Macri to say that he would help Macri complete his term and "bring calm to society and markets", and that his economic proposals do not run the risk of defaulting on the national debt.