the presidential election was held on 28 october 2007. with kirchner leading all the pre-election polls by a wide margin, her challengers focused on forcing her into a ballotage. to win in a single round, a presidential candidate in argentina needs either more than 45% of the vote, or 40% of the vote and a lead of more than 10 percentage points over the runner-up. however, with 13 challengers splitting the vote, kirchner won the election decisively in the first round with just over 45% of the vote, followed by 23% for elisa carrió (candidate for the civic coalition) and 17% for former economy minister roberto lavagna. kirchner was popular among the suburban working class and the rural poor, while carrió and lavagna both received more support from the urban middle class. kirchner lost the election in the large cities of buenos aires and rosario.