Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has been ordered to rest for a month as doctors said Saturday she suffered a head trauma after complaining of a headache and irregular heartbeat.
Fernandez, 60, on Aug. 12 suffered a previously undisclosed head trauma for which tests had been negative, presidential spokesman Alfredo Scoccimarro said in a statement late Saturday.
“A month of rest has been prescribed as well as a continual and strict clinical tracking,” Scoccimarro said in the statement.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff declared her solidarity via Twitter on Sunday with her Argentine counterpart.
Responsible decisions will be taken to cure “the health of the president and not expose her to a greater risk like the demands of this work,” Scioli told a local radio station, according to La Nacion. “We must continue with all our work and the management agenda.”
Fernandez, who last spoke in public on Oct. 4, will turn day-to-day operations over to Vice President Amado Boudou during the period of rest. Her medical issues arise as Argentina prepares to hold midterm congressional elections on Oct. 27. In primaries to select candidates, Fernandez’s ruling alliance received just 26 percent of the nationwide vote, its worst result in a decade.
“The vast majority of decisions recently have been taken by the president,” Fabian Perechodnik, an analyst with Poliarquia Consultores, said by phone from Buenos Aires. “If she’s not there for a month, exactly when there are elections, it’s a significant development. It’s going to change the political dynamic.”
