The preparation to vote for AE, despite having the project for almost four years, intends to chancellar change to electoral polls that is controversial and had almost no debate in the discussion sessions.
The text reported by Senator Marcelo Castro (MDB-PI) states that the dissemination of research will have to be preceded by the information of the last three electoral surveys conducted by that institute in the previous dispute, compared to the outcome of the polls.
The measure, with the potential to shuffle the information given to voters and who is widely criticized by institute directors, was not the subject of amendments or relevant Senate discussions, although the text approved by being there for almost four years.
The Senate CCJ (Committee of Constitution and Justice) discussed the Code proposal on Wednesday (9), but due to divergences on other points, the vote was postponed.
Electoral polls are former targets of the congressmen, who claim to have in some cases fraud and voter induction to errors, especially in regional disputes.
for example, the House has established a censorship of the dissemination of research on the eve and the day of voting, as well as stipulating the institutes to publish a “percentage of hit” of the last five. That is, to combine the latest research of those years with the result of the ballot box.
Senator Marcelo Castro removed his censorship from his report, stressing that the measure had already been considered unconstitutional by the (Federal Supreme Court), and exchanged the proposal for a percentage of settlement for the requirement of prior disclosure of the last three research in the institute in the position in dispute – mayor, governor, senator and president of the Republic.
The few amendments presented at the Senate CCJ regarding research sought to further restrict the rules. Senator Laércio Oliveira (PP-SE) simply wanted to ban any type of research. Senator Professor Dorinha Seabra (-to) suggested that the “hit rate” be measured in relation to the average of all research conducted by the institute in the previous election.
Castro rejected them and, among other arguments, listed one that holds resemblance to what the institute directors say.
“There is no point in better judgment, considering the averages of research results throughout the campaign and comparing this number with votes calculated at the polls. Campaigns are made with the intention of changing voters’ votes intention, in which some succeed, some not, and honest research seek to detect these changes over time,” the rapporteur wrote in his opinion.
The argument of the institute directors is mainly that electoral polls are not intended to “get” ballot results, but to throw light on the moment scenario, which changes in the course of the dispute, potentially even on the day of the election.
Research in order to reveal the result is the so -called “ballot box”, which are virtually no longer made in Brazil due to the agility of the official disclosure of the votes with the electronic ballot boxes.
The primacy of previous elections information before the result of the dispute in question is also a questioned point.
“This will knot the voter’s head. What has to see a guy who is not competing now, or suddenly in the other election he competed for another position? This will give a lot of confusion,” says Duilio Novaes, president of ABEP (Brazilian Association of Research Companies).
He states that there was an attempt to dialogue with the senators, but that there was no response to the technical note sent with these considerations to the CCJ senators.
The Superior Council of the Association is integrated, among others, by Luciana Chong, director of the Opinion Research Institute belonging to the group Sheet.
“Electoral polls reveal the trends throughout the election period and each election has a different dynamic. Presenting the results of research conducted in previous elections is irrelevant, it represents no quality or credibility criterion for research institutes,” says Chong.
The report sent Marcelo Castro questions about the electoral poll chapter and the absence of deeper debate on the subject, but there was no answer.
The project as a whole has 877 articles and revokes all electoral legislation in order to institute a single code. The proposal has the formal objective of modernizing and simplifying the rules, but brings several points that.
The subjects that have most attracted the attention of senators are the new attempt to get the printed vote in the elections, the quarantine for magistrates, police and military who wish to dispute a position and the punishment of fake news in the elections.
If approved at the Senate CCJ, the measure has to go through the plenary and, after that, returns to the House, which has the final word in the process. Among deputies, feeling against electoral polls is historically more robust.
In case of final approval, the President of the Republic can still veto the measure in full or partially, but it is still up to Congress to the last word. Any presidential vetoes may be overthrown with the support of most of the 513 deputies and 81 senators.
