Outgoing Argentina leader Fernandez boycotts successor’s swearing in

Outgoing Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is boycotting the inauguration of her successor on Thursday. The feisty left-winger, who has held power in the country along with her late husband for the past 12 years, insists the handover should take place in Congress where her party still has the largest number of seats. Her successor, business-friendly conservative Mauricio Macri, says the handover of the official sash and baton should take place in the presidential palace. When she did not get her way, Ms Fernandez has said she would attend neither occasion. As a result, she was formally stripped of power by a court on Wednesday.

We believe in what we have achieved so we need to have a positive attitude to ensure that these things will not be destroyed.

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner

Mr Macri has vowed to reboot Latin America’s third-largest economy, which is slumping back toward recession, by ending protectionist import restrictions, cutting heavy taxes on agricultural exports and scrapping the official exchange rate puffing up the Argentine peso. Ahead of Thursday’s disputed ceremony, Ms Fernandez, a divisive figure loved and loathed in equal measure, rallied thousands of her supporters in a farewell speech. She made it clear she would not make reform easy for her successor and pointed a finger at outsiders, such as the U.S., for interfering in her country’s affairs. However, her decision not to attend the inauguration had spawned a trending Twitter hashtag: #CFKVerguenzaMundial, or Fernandez’s world shame.

There’s a sea change coming.

Mauricio Macri

Americas Argentina president