Buenos Aires: The first 40 days of President Néstor Kirchner's government seem to be passing in a climate of increasing acceptance of his leadership and government strategies. The candidate who received barely 22% of the votes in the first round of the presidential elections last April, now has support from almost 80% of the population. This support is due to his straightforward, but determined, style and a series of important political measures that have helped him to consolidate his power, improve his image and impress the idea that there were matters which would change considerably during his term of office. If there is one attribute that characterizes the members of the new government it is that they give the impression of echoing the peoples' protests against politicians, their shady deals and alleged corruption, in the legislative, executive and judicial realms, which gave rise to the events during December 2001, when the people took to the streets demanding extensive change to the political, economic and social life of the country. Kirchner's cabinet appears to want to be as transparent as possible in its actions with measures aimed at the destruction of hotbeds of corruption, which have long been denounced, forming new bonds of confidence with the people. In addition, in adopting a certain level of autonomy and its own profile in negotiations with international monetary organizations regarding foreign debts, it has successfully roused the support of the people, who are sick of the "carnal relations" with the United States that were initiated by Menem's government during the early 1990s and which resulted in a loss of autonomy and credibility as regards the country's foreign policy. Some observers of right-wing politics have not failed to indicate, with certain unease, a possibility that Argentina is "moving towards the left" and that nationalist awareness is increasing. The President's success is accompanied by favorable indications of growth in the economy, which gives substance to an air of hope for an improvement in living standards. Indications are still minor and economists and government officials are cautious in this matter. However, GDP is expected to grow 5% by the end of the year and employment in the formal sector has already increased by 121.71% compared to June 2002, largely in technical and IT positions. Economists are also indicating that there has been a significant rise in employment levels in construction, agriculture and in the informal sector, although this is a difficult figure to gauge. Yet there is no credit recovery, although the official banks have already begun to launch policies for private and productive credit. This lack of credit, which could produce a recovery on the domestic market, is worrying and the new authorities know that this is a key element in reversing the current situation of decline. This climate of increasing confidence can be observed in a small increase in purchases made by the middle classes of items whose sales figures decreased markedly during the crisis, such as books, CDs, clothes, household goods, holidays and leisure activities. Sadly however, there is no hint of this slight recovery in the most vulnerable groups, where unemployment continues to be high and has not begun to recover and not even food consumption has increased. If it had not been for the initiative for household heads, giving subsidies to the heads of families without work, the social crisis would have risen to unsustainable limits. Some 40% of the unemployed have families with dependent children. This entails somewhere in the region of 2 million men and women who receive the equivalent of 60 dollars a month to meet their most basic needs. Although these plans have been criticized for encouraging political patronage and for not being fully transparent, the government plans to continue them though it intends to introduce greater transparency in the granting of these benefits. For the moment it has created a consolidated register of the beneficiaries, in order to purify the lists and avoid fraud and manipulation. Kirchner's political support One of the first acid tests for President Kirchner was to confront the political trial of the members of the Supreme Court of Justice, the collegial body that functioned under a so-called "automatic majority" during and following Carlos Menem's term of office, always safeguarding the interests of the ex-president and of his friends and associates. In a public request to Parliament, Kirchner urged senators and representatives to undertake political proceedings against the judges in question. After this speech had been broadcast to the nation, stimulating a great deal of discussion, Kirchner decided to revoke the privilege granted to him by the National Constitution of naming the judges of the Supreme Court and by presidential decree decided that, while the candidate was to be nominated by the Executive, it would be considered by the National Congress, and there would be public audiences in which lawyers and magistrates associations, academic bodies, human rights organizations and other similar entities would participate in order to discuss the candidacy and to present recommendations and objections. With this resolution the President removed any suspicion that he might wish to emulate Menemism and its personalist management of justice. Within a few days of the president's speech the Political Justice Commission of the National House of Representatives had begun argumentation for the political trial against the President of the Supreme Court, Dr. Julio Nazareno, a lawyer who was an associate of Menem and his brother Eduardo Menem - currently national senator - during the time in which they shared an office in La Rioja. Nazareno was superintendent of the city of La Rioja and during Carlos Menem's government became a member of the Higher Court of the province. He made it to the Supreme Court because of the intervention of the ex-president and was never remarkable for his rulings or his talent as a judge. Nevertheless, what was notorious was his unconditional loyalty to Menem and his interests. Hounded by accusations and afraid of losing the bulky pension which was due to him as a former member of the Supreme Court, Nazareno resigned before the political proceedings began. To fill the vacancy, Kirchner sent Congress the name of a criminal lawyer of international prestige, Dr. Eugenio Zaffaroni, who has been a judge for 20 years, constitutional legislator and President of the National Institution against Discrimination during the Alliance Government. Within a couple of hours, Zaffaroni, who declares himself politically independent, received the support of the human rights organizations, lawyers' associations and academic bodies. There is still almost one month to discuss his candidacy, but opinion polls state that 57% of public opinion is in favor of him. The right wing, meanwhile, is again nervous and wary that a judge who declares himself "defender of the social State of Law" should be a member of the Court. Once again they are afraid of Argentina's "move to the left". In the meantime, Kirchner is hoping to continue harvesting support and affirming his presidential power. As Zaffaroni himself has indicated in various press reports regarding the reasons for his nomination, "the greatest political advantage that he (President Kirchner) has is transparency". "It would be suicide to do anything different", he added referring to the impossibility of returning to a submissive Supreme Court. Signals like these are the ones that Argentine society is hoping for, sick of the cronyism, corruption and automatic majorities which have discredited the country and ruined the democratic institutions. (Translation by ALAI)