The Buenos Aires Province Senate approved a bill on Tuesday granting provincial lawmakers indefinite reelection, a benefit national-level senators and deputies already enjoy. The lower house will now have to debate and pass the proposal for it to become law.

The bill was spearheaded by Kirchnerist senator Luis Vivona and received mixed support from Peronists and libertarian lawmakers. The vote ended in a 22-22 tie, with one abstention from libertarian Silvina Ventura. Vice Governor and Senate head Verónica Magario voted in favor to break the tie.

If the bill becomes law, lawmakers, council members, and school administrators (all of whom are elected by popular vote) would be able to run for reelection indefinitely, something the province allowed until 2016. Mayors, however, would be exempt from this and would remain with the current limit of two consecutive terms.

The vote was divided even among parties, with the majority of support coming from Peronist bloc Unión por la Patria (UxP). The other favorable votes came from three former La Libertad Avanza (LLA) members, as well as one deputy from the UCR, one from GEN, and two from PRO. The LLA bloc voted against it in full.

Bill sponsor Vivona argued in favor of her project by saying that current restrictions “affect the right to elect representatives.” He went on to say that his proposal “comes to strengthen democracy through the representatives that society wishes.“ 

“Neither national senators nor deputies have limitations in their terms of office”, he added.

Carlos Kikuchi, who was Javier Milei’s campaign manager but ultimately split from LLA, voted in favor of the bill, saying that limiting terms “is the opposite of the ideas of freedom.” “The most advanced societies in the world, such as the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Japan, do not prohibit the indefinite reelection of their lawmakers,” he added. 

Conversely, LLA’s Carlos Curestis rejected the proposal and said, “No to reelection, yes to change, to competition, to a free province without owners.”

Not all UxP was behind the initiative. Senator Federico Fagioli, who is close to social leader and former presidential candidate Juan Grabois, said he wouldn’t attend the voting session in a post on X. 

“Do not count on me,” he wrote in full caps. “We have already stated on several occasions that while the people are having a hard time, politics cannot be navel-gazing,” he said, adding that his political party, Patria Grande, has other priorities, like a law guaranteeing homeless people’s human rights and one protecting native fauna, among others.