The regional electoral inspector and rapporteur of action against the federal deputy (PL-SP) in the TRE-SP (Regional Electoral Court of São Paulo) voted this Friday (13) for her impeachment.
Regional inspector Encinas Manfré said he recognized the practice of abuse of political power and misuse of social media. He also stated that the plaintiff’s accusation that Zambelli “has integrated a disinformation system as one is proven, as the defendant acted together for the benefit of several other political allies.”
Magistrate Maria Cláudia Bedotti requested a review following the rapporteur’s vote.
Judges Cotrim Guimarães and Langroiva Pereira asked to advance their vote, and followed the rapporteur in full. The president of the court, Silmar Fernandes, also declared his vote.
the electoral judicial investigation action was filed by federal deputy Sâmia Bomfim (PSOL-SP).
Regardless of the result in the TRE, an appeal can be made to the TSE, and the possible effects of the decision only become valid after the appeals have been exhausted. If convicted in the end, the deputy will lose her mandate and become ineligible for eight years, counting from the 2022 election.
The rapporteur of the action cited different statements by the parliamentarian regarding the polls and the electoral process. Among them, a video in which Zambelli said that there was “manipulation” of ballot boxes in an Itapeva union building, in the interior of São Paulo.
He also cited, for example, a statement by the deputy saying that a restricted group of servers would control “all source code, without any external control” and that this would create in the hands of some technicians “an absolute power to manipulate the results of the election without leaving any trace “.
In an opinion presented in September this year, the regional electoral attorney of São Paulo, Paulo Taubemblatt, defended the merits of the action. He argues that attacks on the polls are intended to “discredit and remove credibility from the set of institutions responsible for conducting and organizing the electoral process.”
“The consequence of such actions is the failure to calm social relations after the proclaimed electoral result and the perpetuation of a climate of animosity that, concretely, reached its peak on January 8, 2023.”
Zambelli’s defense says in the process that there was no illegal act in the parliamentarian’s conduct and also that her posts are protected by freedom of expression. He also defended the ineptitude of the action presented, alleging a lack of logical coherence. He also returned to argue the connection between the process and another action being processed by the TSE.
It also argues that several of the posts made in the pre-election period were simply sharing content from other vehicles and that the content published during the campaign was not illegal or untrue.
“The speech made does not contain content capable of undermining the fairness of the 2022 polls, much less the suitability of the procedure adopted by a public body, but merely questioning, in a clear manner, why the ballot boxes were in a location outside the TRE-SP” , said about an episode that occurred during the electoral campaign that year.
