Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner hopes to spread her political powers in face of the upcoming October general elections Reuters

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has confirmed her candidacy to the National Congress to represent the province of Buenos Aires, the capital.

The president is in the last leg of her second four years in office, with general elections scheduled for next October. She is expected to step down in December.

Through a new role in Congress, the President is hoping to gain the presidency of her centre Justicialist Party (Partido Justicialista) in the lower house, where she does not currently have a majority.

Gaining power over the courts

Another motivation to go to Congress is a wider power over the country's judiciary system.

The judiciary has frequently locked horns with Kirchner's left-wing government, and complains of a culture of intimidation and meddling in the courts.

On 20 February, however, Kirchner's former Chief of Staff, Jorge Capitanich, accused the judiciary of wanting to overthrow her administration through judicial onslaught.

Later that week, the Argentinian president, accused the judiciary of launching a political battle after state lawyers organised a march to demand justice for a dead prosecutor who had been investigating her, Alberto Nisman.

"The true political and institutional significance of the march was the public and now undeniable appearance of the Judicial party," she said in a statement shared on social media.

The scandal-hit president came out swinging with a fiery speech about justice on 1 March, retaking the initiative three days after being cleared of allegations that she tried to derail Nisman's investigation.

The prosecutor had accused Kirchner of plotting to cover up his inquiry into the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires.

To run for office the President will lead the list of deputies in the Buenos Aires province, next to presidential candidates and Justicialist Party politician Julian Dominguez, who will run for governor of the Province of Buenos Aires, according to La Política Online.