The Lower House passed an anti-graft bill known as Ficha Limpia on Wednesday, which aims to ban individuals with convictions for corruption confirmed by two courts from running for office.

It is now headed for debate in the Senate, where it is likely to be rejected. Opposition Peronist bloc Unión por la Patria (UxP), who believe the bill’s goal is to specifically target ex-President Cristina Kirchner, outweighs the ruling party and its allies in the Upper House.

With 144 votes in favor, 98 against and 2 abstentions, the bill’s approval in the Lower House was possible thanks to an agreement between ruling bloc La Libertad Avanza (LLA) and the “friendly opposition.”

Although UxP is also the largest bloc in that chamber, the combined number of deputies from LLA and its allies surpass them. The Peronist bloc voted against the bill as a whole, together with five lawmakers from left-wing FIT and 2 from small provincial parties. 

The session lasted around 12 hours and saw intense debate. “There’s a goal: moving Cristina out of the picture, but we will always defend her, and this will pass,” said UxP bloc head Germán Martínez during the debate. UxP deputy Cecilia Moreau described Ficha Limpia as “an authoritarian bill based on exterminating the enemy.”

PRO deputy Silvia Lospennato, a leading voice of the bill, rejected the accusations that it targets Kirchner. “We started this marathon in 2016, and I would have liked to have Ficha Limpia 10 years ago when the ex-president was not convicted,” she said during the session.

In November, Argentina’s Federal Cassation Chamber upheld the fraud conviction against Kirchner in the case known as “Vialidad.” Kirchner was first convicted in December 2022 and sentenced to six years in prison and a lifelong ban on holding public office. The court found that she had arranged for 51 public works contracts in Santa Cruz province to go to a company belonging to family friend Lázaro Báez.

Kirchner’s attorneys are expected to appeal the decision this week in order to take it to the Supreme Court.

If the Ficha Limpia bill is approved by both chambers in Congress, Kirchner would be banned from running in the October mid-term legislative elections.