Argentine president to undergo brain surgery

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner will undergo surgery on Tuesday to treat bleeding on her brain, doctors have said. Fernandez, 60, was earlier ordered to rest for a month after doctors discovered the subdural haematoma. It was diagnosed as she was undergoing tests for another condition on Saturday. This means Fernandez will have to suspend campaigning for congressional elections. The break from campaigning is considered awkward for the president as some opinion polls have suggested the government could lose control of Congress in the poll on 27 October. While her party has done well in the primaries on a nationwide level it has failed to win a key seat in the province of Buenos Aires, where her rival and former cabinet chief Sergio Massa beat Fernandez's candidate. Medical experts say recovering from this type of surgery is a long process, and her lay-off is now likely to be longer than a month. It has not yet been officially announced whether Vice-President Amado Boudou, who is facing a corruption investigation, will be in charge of the country during her leave. President Fernandez was first elected in 2007 and then returned to power by a comfortable majority in 2011. Her health has been followed closely since the sudden death of her husband, former President Nestor Kirchner, from a heart attack in 2010. She has been admitted to hospital on a number of occasions while serving as president. She has low blood pressure and had to have a thyroid gland removed in 2012. (QNA)