Cristina Kirchner challenges the Supreme Court: “Being imprisoned is a badge of honor.”

Argentine politics is more attentive than ever to the Supreme Court. The announced candidacy of Cristina Kirchner as a Buenos Aires deputy depends on whether the highest court decides soon on the six-year prison sentence for corruption against the former president imposed by lower courts. If the court confirms the sentence before July 19, the deadline to register electoral lists, Kirchner will be detained and permanently barred from holding public office. If the Supreme Court remains silent until then, admits any of the presented appeals, or acquits her, the former president will have the door open to return to active politics. In light of this uncertain scenario, Peronism has rallied behind its historic leader and challenges the court to condemn her. “Being imprisoned is a certificate of dignity,” said Kirchner, surrounded by the top brass of Peronism within the headquarters of the Justicialist Party (PJ) and hundreds of supporters outside.

The atmosphere on the streets this Monday was festive. The Peronist bases celebrated the temporary cessation of hostilities between the different factions of the movement to unite against what they define as a judicial persecution of Kirchner. Even her main internal rival, the governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillof, was present at the event. “Coincidence is not a political category,” said the former president at the beginning of her speech. “It was enough for us to announce a candidacy a week ago for the demons to be unleashed,” she emphasized before attacking the judiciary. The Peronist leader urged supporters to mobilize in the face of a potential adverse ruling that might lead to her arrest.

In November 2024, the Court of Cassation confirmed the six-year prison sentence and permanent disqualification against Kirchner in the well-known Road Works case. The judges found the former president’s fraudulent administration in favor of a business associate, Lázaro Báez, proven through the allocation of about fifty public works projects in the province of Santa Cruz, the birthplace of her political movement. According to the appellate court, Báez compensated for “unduly obtained benefits” through shady deals with “the former president’s family businesses.” The Supreme Court must now decide whether to uphold the appellate ruling or revise it.

No deadlines for a ruling

The Argentine highest court has no deadlines to rule, although it usually avoids high-impact political decisions during election processes. However, the current functioning of the Court is unprecedented, with only three of its five members, and local media have been announcing for days that the decision is a matter of weeks. Due to her age, 72 years, if the sentence were to become final, the former president would serve house arrest.

Kirchner seeks to anticipate the ruling and has elevated her political profile. Throughout the weekend, she sent messages that seem directed at the judges and those who want to see her imprisoned. “If I’m so cornered or politically finished, why don’t they let me compete and beat me at the polls?” the leader stated during a rally in the province of Corrientes, in northern Argentina. “Look how I tremble,” she wrote shortly after on her social media alongside a photo of her smiling.

This Monday, the president of the PJ maintained a provocative tone. The event was held on the Day of Peronist Resistance, commemorating the 18 years during which former president Juan Domingo Perón was banned from Argentina, from 1955 to 1973. Kirchner asserts that they also seek to ban her.

This day commemorates the execution of a group of Peronist militants in a landfill ordered by the dictatorship of Pedro Aramburu on June 9, 1956. Their story was brought to light by investigative journalist Rodolfo Walsh in the non-fiction book Operation Massacre in 1957. Kirchner recalled the failed assassination attempt she suffered on September 1, 2022, making a nod to the most famous phrase from the book — “There is a executed person who lives” — directed to Walsh by an unknown person in a café in the city of La Plata where chess was played. “I am an executed person who lives, and I won’t have enough life to thank God for being alive,” Kirchner said at the end of her speech.

At the end, she went out into the street and reinforced her message in front of a crowd that cheered her with applause and chants. “Come on, put me in jail, is the public going to start earning more money? Will they pay off the debt interest? Will they do public works?” she threw at the Government. “I will be in prison, but the people will be worse off every day. There is no solution for the country with this politics,” she added.

A polarized campaign

Kirchner’s candidacy allows Milei to polarize the Buenos Aires election against an iconic figure that divides opinions. Forty-five percent of voters say they will never vote for her, 30% anticipate they will vote for her, and 20% could vote for her, according to a survey by CB Public Consult published in Clarín. The Government and its allies from Pro, the party of former president Mauricio Macri, accuse the former president of running to gain immunity that would prevent her arrest.

The far-right leader defeated Pro in its stronghold, the Argentine capital, last month and dreams of repeating the feat against the former president in the province of Buenos Aires in the elections on September 7. A victory, he argues, would mean “putting the last nail in the coffin of Kirchnerism” after two decades of political hegemony. On the other hand, the disqualification of the former president would force all parties in the running to change their strategy at the last minute and open a scenario with many more uncertainties.