I know that women have been elected as Presidents of many countries in the world, although that has yet to happen in the United States. But has there ever been an instance of a country where a President was elected, and then his or her spouse was elected at a later day to be President? I haven't heard it mentioned one way or another, and am quite curious.
asked Nov 9, 2016 at 14:36
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2 Answers
Yes. Argentina had one of those, and a closely related situation.
Néstor Kirchner was Presidente of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, and his wife, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner served as President from 2007 to 2015.
Also in Argentina, Juan Perón died while in office and was succeeded by his wife Isabel Martínez de Perón, but that does not qualify because she was not directly elected as President (she succeeded Juan Perón because she was the Vice President).
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I wonder if there was an instance that wasn't back-to-back. 16 years difference is a large amount of time. Hmmm... Nov 9, 2016 at 14:46
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Well, Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of the assasinated Rajiv Gandhi won the 1998 election to the leadership of the Congress Party - the political party that has governed India for most of the time since independence from Britain in 1947.
She remained in that office for 22 years, and led the party to victory at the 2004 elections - but she declined the premiership in favour of Manmohan Singh.
