Behind the Scenes Of a Power Couple

BUENOS AIRES—In Argentina, the nation with more psychologists per capita than any other, a favorite parlor game has involved trying to divine the dynamics of the relationship between President Cristina Kirchner and her late husband and predecessor, Néstor.

They redefined the term "power couple" when Mr. Kirchner, as he was finishing his term in 2007, helped get his wife elected, and then, observers say, continued to wield power behind the scenes in her government.

Now, some political observers wonder how Mrs. Kirchner will manage without the man who was her husband and political partner for almost 40 years.

"She"s the president, but she behaves like a queen, whereas the real president was him and he died," said Alejandro Bonvecchi, a political scientist and professor at Torcuato Di Tella University in Buenos Aires. "For all intents and purposes, this is a country without a government."

The Kirchners met in law school in the 1970s and bonded as opponents to the brutal military government that then ruled Argentina. The ungainly Mr. Kirchner couldn"t have been more of a contrast to his wife, known among classmates as one of the most beautiful students, as well as one of the brightest.

But they formed an effective political team, as he became governor of the Patagonian state of Santa Cruz and she a prominent legislator. Mrs. Kirchner was often the more visible of the two during the 1990s, when she attacked the market-oriented policies of then-President Carlos Menem. "She was out there and Néstor was more reserved," said Javier Corrales, a political-science professor at Amherst College. "One interpretation was that he was more low-profile. The other… was that he was the brain and she the mouth."

Mr. Kirchner was elected president in 2003, and moved to concentrate power in the executive branch. When Mrs. Kirchner took office in 2007, some analysts hoped she might steer the government to a more consensus-based approach, but politics have only become more divisive.

In 2008, Mrs. Kirchner got caught up in a fight with farmers over an increase in a grain export tax. Her husband seemed to relish egging on the conflict. Farm leader Hugo Biolcati complained that the government suffered from "schizophrenia," with more moderate officials linked to Mrs. Kirchner and harder-line officials linked to her husband.

One by one, Mrs. Kirchner"s moderate allies were forced out, leaving the administration dominated by Mr. Kirchner"s loyalists.

Amherst"s Prof. Corrales said the closest thing to the arrangement was the situation in Russia when Vladimir Putin stepped down from the presidency and became prime minister, and his chosen successor, Dmitry Medvedev, took over as president.

Analysts say Mr. Kirchner"s death opens a leadership vacuum that holds out the possibility of more conciliatory politics.

"This does give the democratic opposition an important, historical opening to change the rules of the game," said Riordan Roett, a Latin America specialist at Johns Hopkins University. Whether "they have the courage to do so remains up in the air."