María Nélida Doga

María Nélida "Chichí"^[1] Doga (born 1947) is an Argentine psychologist and Justicialist Party politician. She served as Minister of Social Development during the presidency of Eduardo Duhalde from 2002 to 2003, and as a National Deputy from 2003 to 2007.

María Nélida Doga
National Deputy
In office 10 December 2003 – 10 December 2007
Constituency	Buenos Aires
Minister of Social Development
In office 12 February 2002 – 25 May 2003
President	Eduardo Duhalde
Preceded by	Daniel Sartor
Succeeded by	Alicia Kirchner
Personal details
Born	1947 (age 77–78) La Plata, Argentina
Political party	Justicialist Party
Alma mater	National University of La Plata

Early life and career

Born in La Plata, she studied psychology at the National University of La Plata, graduating in 1970. She later taught courses at her alma mater as well as at the National University of Lomas de Zamora.^[2] As of 2002, she was married to a baritone at the Teatro Municipal de La Plata and had four children.^[3]

Political career

A political ally of Duhalde and his wife, Hilda "Chiche" González, Doga was appointed to the Ministry of Social Development to succeed Daniel Sartori following on her recommendation Duhalde's accession to the presidency in interim fashion, in the aftermath of the 2001 political crisis.^[4] Prior to her appointment, she had chaired the Buenos Aires Province Council on Children and Families.^[5] During her tenure as minister, she was noted by Argentine media as keeping a "low profile", as she did not concede any live interviews on TV and rarely addressed the public.^[6]

In the 2003 general election, she was elected to the National Chamber of Deputies, running on the Justicialist Party list in Buenos Aires Province. Following the 2005 legislative election, she followed Duhalde's supporters in breaking ranks with the government of Néstor Kirchner, forming part of the dissident Federal Peronism parliamentary bloc.^[7]

In the 2011 general election, she ran for one of Buenos Aires Province's three seats in the Argentine Senate as an alternate candidate in the Popular Front list, which supported the presidential candidacy of Eduardo Duhalde and the senatorial candidacy of Chiche Duhalde.^[8]