The request was made shortly after the vote of the case’s rapporteur, Minister Isabel Galloti, who was in favor of the impeachment
The judgment that could revoke the mandate of the governor of (PL-RJ), was suspended this Tuesday (4), after minister Antonio Carlos Ferreira requested a review. The request was made shortly after the vote of the case’s rapporteur, Minister Isabel Galloti, who was in favor of revocation. In her explanation, she claimed that the evidence demonstrated that Castro abused political and economic power during the 2022 elections. The request for a review allows her more time to analyze the process.
“The conduct carried out by those investigated is serious in the 2022 electoral context in the state of Rio”, said the rapporteur, adding that “the actions were not isolated or improvised acts, but part of a strategy implemented within the scope of the state government. It involved the issuing of normative acts by the governor”. In addition to Galloti, six other ministers of the Electoral Court vote, and it will be up to the group to decide whether the request should be rejected, which would close the case, or accepted, which leads to the revocation of mandates and the application of ineligibility. For the request to be approved, the group of 7 people must obtain a majority.
The trial against Castro began this Tuesday, who is accused of abuse of political and economic power, irregularities in the expenditure of electoral resources and conduct prohibited by public agents in the 2022 electoral period. Castro was re-elected, in the first round, in 2022 with approximately five million votes, equivalent to 58.27% of the votes.
The governor of Rio de Janeiro denies the accusations and relies on the fact that the TRE-RJ had already rejected the case due to lack of evidence. “We reaffirm total confidence in the Electoral Court and highlight that the Regional Electoral Court of Rio de Janeiro had already dismissed the accusations relating to the 2022 elections, due to lack of evidence”, says a note from the governor’s defense.
Castro is the target of two actions, which investigate abuse of political and economic power in 2022. The actions had been acquitted by the Regional Electoral Court of Rio de Janeiro by 4 to 3, but the Public Electoral Ministry appealed to the TSE. In addition to Castro, Rodrigo Bacellar (União Brasil), president of the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro (Alerj), and Thiago Pampolha, the vice-governor who left office in May this year to take up a position as advisor to the TCE (State Audit Court), were also tried with the same charges as the governor of Rio de Janeiro.
An investigation by the Public Ministry of Rio de Janeiro (MP-RJ) showed that those allegedly involved in the case were withdrawing cash from bank branches. The investigation found that the withdrawals, in total, reached the value of R$248 million. If the mandate is revoked, the person who must take over the government of Rio de Janeiro is the president of the Court of Justice (TJ-RJ), judge Ricardo Couto de Castro, until the supplementary elections take place, which, according to the law, if the revocation takes place less than six months before the end of the mandate, the new election will take place indirectly (with a vote from state deputies). If it happens outside this period, the election will be direct.
