Paulo Frange states that councilors Janaína Paschoal, Dr. Murillo Lima, Major Palumbo and Sergeant Nantes benefited from the party circumventing the gender quota
The councilor (MDB-SP) filed a lawsuit in the 1st Electoral Zone of São Paulo on Friday (29.Nov.2024) asking for the impeachment of 4 Progressistas councilors elected in the 2024 municipal election for alleged fraud regarding the gender quota. The party’s fictitious candidacies would have directly benefited the elections of elected councilors , , and , according to the action.
The document says that the candidates , , , and were used to “formally complete” the gender quota, without there being any effective campaign. Here is it (PDF – 2.1 MB).
The practice, according to Frange’s lawyers, resulted in the undue advantage of candidates elected for councilor and compromised the legitimacy of the party’s Drap (Demonstration of Regularity of Party Acts).
To the Poder360the lawyer and former judge author of , Márlon Reis, who works in the case, stated that the practice of Progressistas “reveals disregard for the importance of women’s political participation in electoral processes”.
“The Electoral Court has been acting very rigorously in repressing gender fraud. It is not possible for such an unacceptable practice to be reproduced in the economic capital of Brazil.”he declared.
The lawyers ask, in addition to the revocation of the diplomas of those elected by the PP in 2024, the revocation of the party’s Drap in the municipality of São Paulo and the nullity of the votes obtained in the elections, with the consequent “recount of electoral and party quotients”.
O Poder360 He contacted the communications department of the PP presidency in São Paulo to ask if he would like to comment on the legal action. There was no response until the publication of this report. The text will be updated if a statement is sent to this digital newspaper.
AIJE ARGUMENTS
The candidates identified as fictitious in Aije (Action Judicial Electoral Investigation) collected 121 (Renata) 89 (Gilmara), 59 (Eliane), 55 (Alzira) and 18 (Dorinha) votes. None of them obtained at least 0.01% of the votes in the dispute. According to the document, it demonstrates the “lack of legitimate effort to win the support of the electorate” e “reinforces the fictitious nature of his candidacy”.
In the request, Frange’s lawyers highlighted the low mobilization activity of candidacies, both in physical campaigns and on social networks, in addition to the lack of recorded expenses and party donations to campaigns.
“It is demonstrated that there is great inequality in the treatment of candidacies, where the elected candidates with the highest votes received substantial party resources, while women listed as fictitious did not receive the same support”says the document.
The value of the electoral fund donated by the Party’s National Directorate to the elected candidates was: R$ 2.660.000 (Dr.Murillo Lima), R$ 360.000 (Janaína Paschoal), R$ 300.000 (Sergeant Nantes) and R$ 300.000 (Major Palumbo).
NETWORK CAMPAIGNS
Only Gilmara Vanzo would have shown real effort in her candidacy on social media, according to the lawsuit. Still, without asking for votes for herself, but in support of the then candidate for Mayor of the capital (PRTB). The same defense argument was presented against Alzira who, in short, showed more support for the re-elected mayor Ricardo Nunes than in the campaign itself.
Del Bianco, despite accumulating more than 124,000 followers on his social networks, only obtained 121 votes. According to aije, the candidate did not demonstrate a minimum effort on the networks for her campaign.
In the case of Alzira Força, the party had not yet taken any action to replace the candidate given her legal unfeasibility. Alzira became ineligible due to the lack of electoral clearance, after failing to regularize her 2014 campaign accounts. According to Frange, the Progressistas party registered her as a candidate, aware that her situation was irreversible.
“The situation shows that the party used fictitious candidacies to comply with legal formalities, without any genuine intention of promoting the effective participation of women in the political process. All the candidates analyzed present characteristics that corroborate the lack of effectiveness of their campaigns”the document states.
SÚMULA DO TSE
The document is mainly based on that of the (Superior Electoral Court) – on gender quota fraud – approved in May 2024 to guide this year’s municipal elections. The summary aims to respect the Elections Law () which requires a minimum of 30% female candidates in an election.
The report by the former president of the Court, Alexandre de Moraes, says that the presence of one or more of the following elements constitutes fraud in the gender quota:
- zero or insignificant voting;
- zero, standardized reporting or absence of relevant financial transactions;
- absence of effective campaigns, publicity or promotion of third party candidacy.
The consequences, according to the TSE, are the revocation of the party’s Drap, the diplomas of the linked candidates, the ineligibility of those involved and the annulment of the votes obtained, with the recount of the electoral and party quotients.
