The collapse of a lower house session on a new anti-corruption bill in Argentina’s Congress has sparked a furious reaction from centre-right lawmakers backing the proposed legislation.
The lower house Chamber of Deputies on Thursday failed to reach quorum to debate the so-called ‘Ficha Limpia’ bill, which would prevent those with confirmed convictions from being candidates for elected office.
The bill, which prevents those convicted of corruption offences in the second instance of running for political office, is seen by most analysts as an attempt to clean up politics.
It also has the added bonus of potentially removing former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner from mainstream politics, given her recent conviction, which has not been confirmed by the Supreme Court.
Wednesday’s session, called by the PRO, La Libertad Avanza (LLA) and Radical (UCR) parties could not muster the 129 deputies necessary to open debate since – only 116 were present when Speaker Martín Menem lifted the session.
The special session to approve the ‘Ficha Limpia’ initiative had been requested by PRO caucus chief Cristian Ritondo. Yet there were absentees in almost every caucus, eluding quorum and sparking rumours of deals behind closed doors.
One of the striking numbers of the session was President Javier Milei’s government’s contribution to the failure – eight of the head of state’s 39 deputies from La Libertad Avanza were missing.
The Unión Cívica Radical (UCR), Democracia para Siempre (a breakaway Radical faction) and Coalición Cívica caucuses denounced an alleged pact between La Libertad Avanza and Peronist lawmakers led by Fernández de Kirchner.
Were the anti-corruption bill to be approved and converted into law by the Senate, the ex-president could not run in next year’s midterms.
Other sources linked the absences to the need to guarantee the votes for the continuity of Martín Menem as Lower House speaker.
“The corrupt will be celebrating today, all the criminals ... the session collapsed because impunity is very powerful,” complained PRO deputy Silvia Lospennato after confirmation that the session was going nowhere.
Ex-president and head of PRO, Mauricio Macri expressed his frustration at the bill’s failure, declaring “with corrupt leaders there is no future.”
“Today, in the ‘Ficha Limpia’ session in the Chamber of Deputies, disturbing and profound questions for the future of Argentina were left hanging in the air,’ the former president wrote on his X social media account.
“Do we or do we not want a country without corruption? Does anyone care about corruption or are we resigned to it?” he asked.
The setback will hurt Macri, who has had an up-and-down relationship with President Milei over the past year. Despite often supporting the La Libertad Avanza government in Congress, hostilities between the two parties have deteriorated.
Also complaining was lawmaker Lourdes Arrieta, who did not show up on Thursday morning to grant quorum but showed her face after its failure.
Speaking with a high voice, and in floods of fears, the ex-LLA deputy (who now in her own caucus after expulsion) accused her peers of “hypocrisy towards the Argentine people.”
“I do not respond to Macri nor to Cristina nor even to the government because they threw me out,” she continued. “I’m clean, free from any contamination, I don’t owe anybody anything.”
The ‘Ficha Limpia’ bill proposes a ban on national candidacies for any citizen whose conviction for corruption, misallocation of public funds or embezzlement has been upheld. As things now stand, a conviction would need to be upheld by the Supreme Court to disqualify a candidate.
If approved by the requisite special majority (an absolute majority of the members in both houses), Fernández de Kirchner’s candidacy in next year’s midterms would be barred.
– TIMES/NA
