Argentina's supreme court has effectively banned former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner from government, a move that poses both a challenge and an opportunity for the opposition Peronist party ahead of crunch midterm elections this year.

The Supreme Court upheld a corruption conviction that would bar one of Argentina’s top political figures from office. Fernández de Kirchner rejected the ruling.

Argentina’s top court effectively banned two-term former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner from office and upheld a six-year jail sentence, likely drawing a curtain on one of the country’s most flamboyant and divisive political careers.