Selecting Women, Electing Women: Political Representation and Candidate Selection in Latin America

7. Selecting Candidates Closer to Home: Widows, Wives, and Daughters

7 Selecting Candidates Closer to Home Widows, Wives, and Daughters if my doctor died, i wouldn’t want his wife to operate on me. —Constituent’s response to the news that Governor Mel Carnahan’s widow would serve out the term that he posthumously won (quoted in Katharine Mieszkowski, “Behind every dead Candidate . . .”) Just don’t be like that husband of yours. —Oft-repeated phrase directed at a Mexican mayoral candidate (interview, May 7, 2003) C hapter 1 began with the story of Cristina Fernández, who succeeded her husband to become president of argentina in 2007. Fernández had been active in politics since joining the youth wing of the peronista party in the 1970s. after the return to democracy in 1983, Fernández re-entered politics and was elected to the legislature of her home province of santa Cruz in 1989 and again in 1993. she launched her national political career when she successfully contested a seat for the senate in 1995. she would later be elected to the Chamber of deputies and twice re-elected to the senate (once while serving as First lady). néstor Kirchner, her husband , was elected president in 2003. she ran for that office in 2007 and won with over 45 percent of the vote, a 22 percentage point lead over her nearest rival—a woman—and enough to avoid a runoff. despite her noteworthy political career, Fernández nonetheless was accused of gaining office solely because of her husband. Cristina Fernández has been outspoken about the fact that her political career is not merely a function of her husband’s, and as reporters noted “she made a point of remaining in her assigned seat 118 Chapter 7 in the senate chamber on the day he [néstor Kirchner] donned the azureand -white sash inside the national Congress rather than join him on the podium” (Contreras 2005). This chapter takes an analytical look at political widows, wives (like Fern ández), and daughters. While the widows, wives, and daughters are often the subject of discussion by citizens of latin american countries, they have not received much academic attention.1 But the family connections that i describe in this chapter aid our understanding of candidate selection in the region. The assumption is generally that dedazos create the conditions necessary for women with these familial ties to come to power. in other words, the assumption is that when a single individual unilaterally has the power to decide candidacies, he may place his wife in office (to extend his rule— i.e., to use his wife as a political puppet). The examples that i discuss in this chapter instead demonstrate that women who are related to politically powerful men can and do emerge from all forms of candidate selection. While dedazos have placed widows, wives, and daughters into power, so too have primaries. exclusive-decentralized and inclusive-centralized processes have had the same results. Why might this be the case? These family connections can eliminate obstacles important to women’s candidacies: self-nomination and local power monopolies. These constraints on female candidacies are often nonexistent for political widows, wives, and daughters. The cases that i discuss subsequently demonstrate this point. While little academic work has examined the importance of kinship ties to women’s political paths, especially for latin america, small studies nonetheless indicate that the anecdotal wisdom concerning the familial connections of female politicians has a solid basis in fact (pinto 1994; river-Cara 1993, as cited in prOlead 2002; prOlead 2002).2 in a limited study of latin american congresswomen, 8 of 11 women felt that their family connections had helped their political careers (river-Cara 1993, as cited in prOlead 2002). The political biographies of the handful of women who have occupied presidential office in latin america serve to reinforce the significance of kinship. We must note, however, that examples of both men and women who have entered politics with family connections abound.3 How different is Cristina Fernández from Martín Torrijos? Martín Torrijos, the son of General Omar Torrijos, became president of panama in 2004. What similarities exist between Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas—who served as governor of Michoacán, was mayor of Mexico City, and ran for the presidency three times—and the current argentine presidenta? He is the son of famed Mexican president lázaro selecting Candidates Closer to Home 119 Cárdenas and...