Argentina's Kirchner Strengthens Grip on Congress in Election

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Oct. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Argentine President Nestor Kirchner increased his grip on congress in mid-term elections, with his party more than doubling seats in the lower house and adding members in the Senate, exit polls and preliminary results showed.

The vote yesterday put both Kirchner's wife, Cristina, in the Senate as well as her rival, Hilda Duhalde, who is married to President Kirchner's predecessor, Eduardo Duhalde. Former President Carlos Menem also will join the Senate, according to exit polls and results based on 15 percent of the vote counted.

Kirchner, 55, led Argentina out of its deepest recession on record, helping spur a third straight year of economic growth. The election gives him more power to negotiate new contracts with 60 utilities that want to raise their rates and boost spending on social programs, though he remains short of a majority in both houses, analysts such as Rosendo Fraga at Nueva Mayoria said.

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Kirchner's Victory Party increased its seats in the 257-member lower house to about 90 from 40 and to about 24 from 15 in the 72- member upper house, Mariana Russak, an analyst at Buenos Aires polling company Carlos Fara & Asociados said, after analyzing exit polls released on TodoNoticias television. Half the lower house and a third of the Senate were up for election.

Bloomberg