In the 2006 elections, Maluf ran for a seat in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, being elected as the candidate for the federal legislature with a national record in terms of ballots cast personally for a candidate to the federal legislature in this particular election (739,837). He was reelected again in 2010, with something around 497,000 ballots cast for him. His 2010 bid for reelection was fraught with legal doubts, as a recent federal statute (Complementary Law 135/2010, commonly known as "Lei Ficha Limpa" or "Clean Record Act") allowed electoral courts to refuse to register the candidacies of people already found guilty by a higher, collegiate court (possibility of further appeals notwithstanding); however, as the Brazilian STF decided in March 2011 that the "Clean Record Act" did not apply to the 2010 elections, according to the principle of anteriority (no offence being punished when defined by a non-previously existing law, and a Brazilian electoral law must be in force at least a year before the election is held), all charges against Maluf's registration and subsequent office-taking were eventually dropped. During the 2014 elections, Maluf stood again as a congressional candidate, but his candidacy was this time denied acceptance by a 4-to-3 decision of the TSE. Pending a recourse to the STF, Maluf was allowed to campaign and to receive ballots cast for him in October 5, 2014, but such votes are legally regarded as null until - and if - his candidacy is declared as lawful. Were this to happen, his 2014 voting would make him the eighth most voted candidate for the Federal Legislature in the State of São Paulo, with 246,446 ballots.