A Clean Record bill promoted by the La Libertad Avanza bloc has opened a debate in the Santiago del Estero Legislature that goes beyond barring convicted people from running for office. The initiative combines a criminal-law filter with certificates, sworn statements and toxicological tests, and seeks to cover provincial and municipal elected offices as well as district party leadership positions.
The core of the proposal is the disqualification of prospective and confirmed candidates whose convictions for serious crimes have been upheld by a reviewing court. The judgment would not need to have exhausted every extraordinary appeal: the restriction would begin after that second review and remain in place until a later reversal or completion of the sentence. The text links the standard to corruption offences and other conduct it deems incompatible with public office.
The breadth of the system is clear from the positions listed. It covers candidates for governor and lieutenant governor, provincial deputies, constitutional convention members, mayors, council members, municipal commissioners and other provincial or local elected posts. It also applies to those seeking party authority positions in Santiago del Estero, so the control is not confined to lists that ultimately reach an election.
To turn the prohibition into a verifiable procedure, parties, coalitions and electoral alliances would have to submit a valid criminal-record certificate and a sworn statement for each nominee confirming that the person is not covered by any disqualification. The Provincial Electoral Tribunal would examine the documents when lists are certified, a decisive stage because that is when each name's eligibility to compete would be settled.
The bill adds a requirement distinct from criminal convictions: medical studies signed by professionals declaring that nominees do not use prohibited narcotic or psychotropic substances. On a substantiated request, the authority could order a new test while protecting the person's privacy. A positive result would bar the candidacy for that electoral period and leave open any criminal liability, with the Electoral Tribunal responsible for oversight.
Libertarian bloc president Marcelo Figueroa placed the initiative within the national policy of promoting Clean Record rules and electoral reforms in the provinces. The proposal follows that drive but adds its own structure: it defines the procedural moment that triggers exclusion, requires political forces to assemble documents in advance and introduces a health-related control that will broaden the debate over the meaning of fitness for office.
Municipalities with their own charters would be invited to join and adapt their electoral systems, meaning provincial approval would not end the process. The next step is for the Chamber of Deputies to place the bill on its agenda and decide when to debate it. Its sponsors describe consideration as imminent, but no session date has been confirmed. Lawmakers must then decide whether the dual filter remains intact and how the electoral authority will enforce it.
