Don't worry - Kirchners' a real bastard.
Argentina Faces Final Menem Election Decision Wed May 14,11:20 AM ET
By Mary Milliken
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Reuters) - Former President Carlos Menem flew on Wednesday with top aides to his home town where he should announce whether is pulling out of the presidential election four days from the vote.
Menem plunged the race into chaos in the last 24 hours as aides confirmed he was considering quitting the Sunday runoff to avoid a humiliating defeat to Gov. Nestor Kirchner, who is well ahead in polls.
If the 72-year-old Menem does drop out, the election would be canceled and Kirchner would become president.
Newspapers said his withdrawal was almost certain and criticized him for undermining the election at a key moment for Argentina's 20-year-old democracy. Two of Argentina's last three elected leaders left office early after losing support.
The usually flamboyant Menem was cryptic in his appearances. When reporters in his home province of La Rioja asked if he was quitting, he said: "May they (the people) have faith. When you lose faith, you lose everything."
His exit would be a blow to fellow Peronist Kirchner, who would assume the presidency with just 22 percent of the popular vote in the first round on April 27, rather than the 70 percent predicted by polls for Sunday.
That could weaken his standing among powerful provincial governors and national legislators as Argentina faces hard decisions on how to pay its foreign debt, win more International Monetary Fund (news - web sites) aid and alleviate growing poverty.
Argentines were hoping for a smooth transition to new leadership that would consign the country's worst economic crisis to the history books.
"It will depend on his government, on the legitimacy he can win with his policies," said pollster Ricardo Rouvier.
Latin America's No. 3 economy is trying to emerge from a chaotic year and a half that saw bloody food riots, a world record debt default and a savage currency devaluation. Sixty percent of Argentines are poor and 25 percent are jobless.
FORMIDABLE ANTI-MENEM VOTE
Some of Menem's closest allies spoke out against a withdrawal and were trying to convince him to reconsider.
But there was no sign he would be able to win a third term, as he had confidently predicted. Defeat on Sunday would be Menem's first electoral loss.
His 1989-1999 rule was one of the most sustained periods of growth in Argentine history, but was also marred by corruption scandals and rampant overspending.
Weekend polls gave Menem less than 30 percent as he failed to draw voters outside his solid base. More than half of voters said they would never vote for Menem, making the little known Kirchner a runaway favorite.
Kirchner was scheduled to address the nation in the afternoon, but people in his camp were racing to dispel notions his government would be weak. Caretaker President Eduardo Duhalde, his main backer, called the governor "president."
"Obviously, it would be much better if the country could vote, but polls show overwhelming support for Kirchner. There isn't a question of legitimacy," said Duhalde.
-- /**********************************************************************/ Brad Mayer