An attempt to kill Argentina’s politically powerful vice president Cristina Fernandez outside her home failed after a handgun misfired, according to the president.

The man who was seen brandishing the weapon was quickly overpowered by Ms Fernandez’s security officers during the incident on Thursday night, officials said.

President Alberto Fernandez said the pistol did not discharge when the man tried to fire it.

“A man pointed a firearm at her head and pulled the trigger,” the president said in a national broadcast following the incident.

He said the firearm was loaded with five bullets, but “didn’t fire even though the trigger was pulled”.

The vice president, herself a former leader of the country, did not appear to have suffered any injury, and the man was overpowered within seconds as he stood among a crowd of her supporters.

Gina De Bai, a witness who was near the vice president during the incident, told The Associated Press she heard “the sound of the trigger being pulled”. She said she did not realise it was a handgun until the man was rushed by security personnel.

President Fernandez, who is not related to the vice president, called it “the most serious incident since we recovered democracy” in 1983 after a military dictatorship and urged political leaders, and society at large, to repudiate the attempted shooting.

The attack came as the vice president is facing a trial for alleged acts of corruption during her 2007-2015 presidency – charges that she vehemently denies and that have led her supporters to surround her home in the upscale Recoleta area of Argentina’s capital.

Video broadcast on local television channels showed Ms Fernandez exiting her vehicle surrounded by supporters when a man is seen extending his hand with what looks like a pistol.

The vice president ducks as people around the apparent gunman appear shocked at what is happening.Unverified video posted on social media shows the pistol almost touched Ms Fernandez’s face.

The alleged gunman was identified as Fernando Andre Sabag Montiel, a Brazilian citizen, said an official at the Security Ministry. He does not have a criminal record, the official said, adding that the weapon was a .32-calibre Bersa.

The president declared Friday a holiday “so the Argentine people can, in peace and harmony, express itself in defence of life, democracy and in solidarity with our vice president”.

Supporters of the vice president have been gathering in the streets surrounding her home since last week, when a prosecutor called for a 12-year sentence for Ms Fernandez as well as a life-long prohibition in holding public office in the corruption case.

Shortly after the incident, government officials were quick to decry what they called an assassination attempt.

“When hate and violence are imposed over the debate of ideas, societies are destroyed and generate situations like the one seen today: an assassination attempt,” economy minister Sergio Massa said.