Argentine ex-chief enters race for vice president

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina’s former President Cristina Fernandez announced on Saturday her candidacy for vice president in October’s general elections, a surprising move that now puts a more moderate challenger at the helm of the presidential ticket.

In a video posted on Twitter on Saturday, Fernandez said that Alberto Fernandez, who leads the left-leaning Unidad Ciudadana political party, will run for the presidency against conservative President Mauricio Macri.

“I have asked Alberto Fernandez to head the formula that we will integrate together, he as a presidential candidate and I as a vice presidential candidate,” Fernandez said. “I am convinced that this formula that we are proposing is the one that best expresses what Argentina needs at this moment to summon the broadest social and political and economic sectors.”

Alberto Fernandez served as chief of staff from 2003 to 2007 for Fernandez’s predecessor and late husband, Nestor Kirchner. He remained in the position during a portion of Fernandez’s term as president from 2007 to 2015, but left the post after a steep economic crisis took hold.

While many had assumed she would run for the top post, Fernandez’s decision to pursue the position of second-in-command reflects possible doubts over whether she was best positioned to challenge Macri in light of a series of looming corruption trials.

Argentina’s Supreme Court has said the first corruption trial against Fernandez could start as early as this week, despite a judicial order that her opponents feared could delay the trial into the presidential campaign season or beyond.