Buenos Aires, Argentina (CNN) -- Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announced plans to run for re-election.

Fernandez said Tuesday she decided to make her plans public to put an end to widespread speculation and stop rumors.

"I wanted to be closer to the end of the sign-up period to be able to announce it," she said. "But really, over the weekend, I said, 'enough.'"

Fernandez has been the South American country's president since 2007.

Her husband, Nestor Kirchner, who was president from 2003 to 2007, died last year.

"That threw the political scenario really open in Argentina," said Jennifer McCoy, director of the Americas Program at the Atlanta-based Carter Center and a professor of political science at Georgia State University, in an interview last year.

That "will most likely bring out a number of competitors that may not have come out, if he were still living with the possibility of running himself," she said.

CNN's Rafael Romo contributed to this report.