From the tables of Buenos Aires pizza parlors to the fields of this South American nation's farmlands, Argentines are intensely debating a question they must answer during Sunday's presidential runoff election: How large a role should the government play in their lives?

At the center of the debate is the contentious legacy of outgoing President Cristina Fernandez and “Kirchnerismo,” the political movement aligned with the poor that she created with her late husband and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner.

During 12 years in power, the power couple rewrote Argentina's social contract, gaining both impassioned followers and fierce critics. They designed programs for the poor, nationalized the YPF oil company, raised tariffs on imports to protect and develop local economies and passed laws to aid the elderly, handicapped people, homosexuals and other groups on the margins, such as becoming in 2010 the first Latin American nation to legalize gay marriage.