Presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni said that the government will file a new anti-graft bill to Congress, although he offered no timetable for when that will happen. 

The decision comes following the news that a Lower House session scheduled to debate a PRO-backed anti-corruption initiative known as Ficha Limpia (Clean Record) failed to reach quorum on Thursday. This was the second time in a week that this proposal failed to reach the floor due to lack of quorum, albeit this time government lawmakers were among those absent. This led to an angry backlash by PRO deputies amid rumors that the Milei administration had struck a deal with the Peronist opposition to tank the session.

If approved, the Ficha Limpia bill would prevent people convicted for corruption by two separate courts from running for office. The most obvious consequence of the passing of this bill would be the barring of Cristina Kirchner from electoral politics. 

Kirchner’s conviction for fraud in the case known as “Vialidad” was recently upheld by Argentina’s Federal Cassation Chamber. She was first convicted by a lower court in December 2022 and sentenced to six years in prison and a lifelong ban on holding public office. She can still appeal her case to the Supreme Court. 

Unión por la Patria (UxP) deputies have described the Clean Record bill as an attempt to simply prohibit Kirchner from running in the 2025 legislative elections. “The Clean Record bill has a first and last name: Cristina Kirchner,” UxP deputy Carlos Castagneto told CNN radio, adding that those behind the bill “are trying to ban Cristina.”

There were only 116 deputies present by the time Lower House head Martín Menem called for the beginning of the session on Thursday, far short of the 128 required for quorum. And although the lionshare of absentees came from the Peronist opposition, the fact that eight lawmakers from ruling coalition La Libertad Avanza were absent caused speculation to spread like wildfire. 

PRO deputy and bill author Silvia Lospennato expressed her dismay with the failed session, saying that “corrupt people will be celebrating.” She directed her most scathing commentary, however, against lawmakers who failed to appear and who she claimed had assured her they would be there. 

“I have written confirmation from the members of each bloc who said they would be here,” she said, adding that she no longer believed in “coincidences or unforeseen” events.

“Last week, in good faith, I really thought that some deputies couldn’t make it due to unforeseen situations. Truth be told, I have to say that now I feel cheated, to put it mildly and avoid using a curse word,” Lospennato stated. 

In his daily press conference on Friday, Adorni was quick to point out that a clean record bill is “part of Milei’s culture war” and denied rumors that the government had some sort of quid-pro-quo deal with Kirchner. According to these versions, the failure of the anti-graft bill was a token in exchange for Peronist votes to keep Menem in place as Lower House head for the next year. 

“There is no, and there never will be a pact with corruption,” Adorni said, clarifying that this meant that there will “never be a pact” with Cristina Kirchner. 

“The government is in favor of a clean record because corruption cannot govern Argentina,” Adorni explained. He added that President Milei is “committed” to filing a new anti-graft bill, albeit with some corrections compared to the proposal submitted by PRO. 

Although Adorni stressed that the Milei administration is against “corrupt people holding public office,” he also stated that any anti-graft law must have sufficient guarantees preventing “the bad guys from excluding the good guys through false claims” that prevent the latter from participating in elections.