Argentine first lady may seek to only tweak economy

By Hilary Burke - Analysis

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's first lady easily won the presidency on Sunday in an election that offered few surprises, but how she will handle the country's thorniest economic dilemmas is less predictable.

Sen. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner triumphed with nearly 45 percent of the vote. Her popularity was closely tied to that of her husband, President Nestor Kirchner, who oversaw nearly 50 percent economic growth during his four-year term.

In the final days of the campaign, Fernandez stressed her role as Kirchner's top advisor, taking joint credit for the country's rebound from a 2001-02 financial and social crisis.

But despite consumer boycotts of expensive tomatoes and potatoes, Fernandez has not specified how she will fight inflation, which is among Argentines' biggest worries.

It is also unclear how she will manage some other downsides of her husband's legacy: energy shortages, a shrinking budget surplus and depressed public utility rates.

"All changes and all policies should be gradual," Fernandez, a 54-year-old lawyer and center-left senator, told local TV last week.

"I don't believe in shock policies any more," she said, referring to free-market measures backed by the International Monetary Fund and widely discredited in Argentina.

Economy Minister Miguel Peirano, whom many expect to continue after Fernandez takes office on December 10, told local radio that the first lady will continue Kirchner's policies.