New candidate joins Argentina's presidential race

BUENOS AIRES, Aug 25 (Reuters) A new candidate entered on Friday the lopsided Argentine presidential race, where polls show first lady Sen. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner as the clear front-runner in an October 28 vote.

The new contender, San Luis provincial Gov. Alberto Rodriguez Saa, is the brother of Adolfo Rodriguez Saa, who declared Argentina's massive debt default in 2001 during a one-week stint as president.

Despite recent corruption scandals battering President Nestor Kirchner's government, Fernandez's support has risen in many polls to nearly 50 per cent, as voters see her continuing the economic boom of the last four years.

Flamboyant ex-President Carlos Menem is supporting Rodriguez Saa after apparently dropping his own bid for the presidency, and two other candidates from different ends of the political spectrum are considering an alliance to improve their slim chances of winning.

Rodriguez Saa ''doesn't represent any threat to the first lady. We have already included him in polls, because we assumed he would be a candidate, and he has very low levels of voter support,'' said Ricardo Rouvier yesterday, a political analyst and pollster.

This latest bid marks a further splintering of the ruling Peronist party, which was already fielding two candidates: Fernandez and former Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna, who served under Kirchner until late 2005.

Rodriguez Saa represents the explicitly anti-Kirchner wing of the Peronist party. He was recently re-elected governor and is expected to continue in that post if his presidential bid is not successful.

REUTERS AK BST0552