she began a four-year term on 10 december 2007, facing challenges including: inflation, poor public security, international credibility, a faulty energy infrastructure, and protests from the agricultural sectors over an increase of nearly 30% on export taxes. kirchner was the second female president of argentina, after isabel martínez de perón but, unlike perón, was elected to the office, whereas isabel perón was elected juan perón's vice president, and automatically assumed the presidency on his death. the transition from néstor kirchner to cristina fernández de kirchner was also the first time a democratic head of state was replaced by their spouse without the death of either. he remained highly influential during his wife's term, supervising the economy and leading the pj. their marriage has been compared with those of juan and eva perón and bill and hillary clinton. media observers suspected that mr. kirchner stepped down as president to circumvent the term limit, swapping roles with his wife.