It was no surprise that the leading candidates defined themselves in terms of Fernandez, a polarizing leader who along with her late husband dominated national politics for 12 years and rewrote the country's social contract.Polls closed in the evening without any reports of disturbances, and election officials said the first official results would not be known until late Sunday.
During the chilly but clear day when bars were closed and there were not the usual weekend soccer games, millions filed into schools, churches and other businesses converted into polling places to cast their votes — sometimes undecided right up to the last moment.
"The truth is I don't like any of the candidates," said Anai Roy, a college student who said she would make a choice in the polling booth. "So I just have to decide who is the best of bad."
The decisions of voters like Roy would be key, as Argentines have been deeply divided about the rule of Fernandez and about who might improve the economic problems and corruption plaguing the nation of 41 million people.
Inflation is around 30 percent, the economy is stagnant and a bitter court fight with a group of creditors in the U.S. has scared off investors and kept Argentina on the margins of international credit markets.
But Argentines have a unique, nightmarish reference point for a truly bad economy: the financial collapse of 2001-2002, when the country defaulted on $100 billion in debt and overnight millions of middle class people were impoverished.
"The economy is OK. It's not great," said Maria Victoria Murillo, an expert on Argentine politics at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. "But for Argentina, OK is pretty good."
Daniel Scioli, the governor of the Buenos Aires province and a former vice president, was the chosen successor to Fernandez, who nears the end of her second term with approval ratings around 50 percent.
Fernandez and her late husband and predecessor as president, Nestor Kirchner, are widely credited with lifting the nation after the collapse. Fernandez sharply increased spending on social welfare programs, which range from work training to stipends for single mothers. Her government was the first in Latin America to legalize gay marriage, and it nationalized airline Aerolineas Argentinas and the YPF oil company while strengthening ties with Russia and China and often accusing the United States of meddling in the country's affairs.
Scioli, a former boat racer who lost his right arm in an accident in 1989, presented himself as the continuation of Fernandez's policies who would also fix anything broken. He bristled at suggestions that Fernandez would continue to dominate behind the scenes.
"What Scioli would do in office is a mystery," said Maria Fernandez, who owns a real estate company. "Will he take orders from Cristina or do something else?"
"I don't want to find out," added Fernandez, who was voting for Mauricio Macri, the lead opposition candidate.
Macri, the Buenos Aires mayor, presented himself as the candidate to put Argentina's economy in order, promising to make a deal with the U.S. creditors and lift unpopular currency restrictions.
But Macri also has tailored his campaign to the millions who receive some form of government support. He promised to maintain popular programs for the poor and increase spending in some areas. Macri even went so far as to inaugurate a statue of Juan Peron, a three-time former president who founded the ideological movement to which Fernandez adheres.
Ramiro Blanco said she was voting for Scioli in large part because Fernandez picked him.
"I want to preserve everything we have achieved in these years," said Blanco, a clothing store manager. "Macri would be a return to the past" conservative economic policies that many Argentines believe led to the 2001 collapse.
To win outright, a candidate needed 45 percent of the votes, or 40 percent and at least a 10-point advantage over the nearest competitor.
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