The minister, from the TSE (Superior Electoral Court), voted this Tuesday (11) for the impeachment of Antonio Denarium (), and his deputy, Edison Damião ().
According to the minister, the creation of the Cesta da Família social program and the improper execution of the Morar Melhor program, both in 2022, an election year, would be the two behaviors that characterize the abuse that would result in the loss of the mandate.
The governor was re-elected with a difference of 44 thousand votes for second place. Mendonça stated that if only the beneficiaries of the two programs were considered, there would be a greater number than the distance between the candidates.
“As for the qualitative aspect, both behaviors are also considered reprehensible, as they involve the exploitation of extreme poverty, in terms of food and housing,” he stated.
After Mendonça’s vote, minister Kassio Nunes Marques asked for a review (more time for analysis) of the process, suspending the trial.
Politicians remain in office pending analysis of the appeal by the TSE, the last instance of the .
The analysis of the case began on August 20, with oral arguments. On August 26, the rapporteur, Isabel Gallotti, gave her vote for impeachment and Mendonça asked for a review.
“Both occurred in the year of the election and are serious enough to impose the sanction of recognizing the abusive practice. In quantitative terms, more than 40 thousand families benefited. A single family served tends to include several voters”, said the minister.
Mendonça highlighted the exponential jump in the number of beneficiaries, going from 10 thousand families in the previous program (2020) to the possibility of serving up to 50 thousand families in the new 2022 program.
“The increase of 40 thousand families served, in my opinion, has the ability, not only in the hypothetical plan, but in concrete terms, to impact the election, even at the state level, especially given the multiplier effect on the voters present in each family nucleus reached by the program, which, it should be noted, has typical contours of a new assistance policy”, said the minister.
Denarium and Damião were convicted by the TRE-RR (State Regional Electoral Court) for abuse of political and economic power in the 2022 General Elections. The court also declared Denarium ineligible and ordered new elections for the Roraima government.
The TRE understood that the use of the public machine to carry out actions prohibited to public agents during the electoral period was proven, with the aim of obtaining political advantages in the dispute, in addition to making electoral use of the social programs “Cesta da Família” and “Morar Melhor”.
There were four revocations at the state level, the last two in January and November 2024.
After a year of waiting, the president of the (Superior Electoral Court), Cármen Lúcia, .
The analysis of the case began on August 20, with oral arguments. On August 26, the rapporteur, Isabel Gallotti, gave her vote for impeachment and Mendonça asked for a review.
They respond for the alleged use of the public sector in favor of the re-election of the governor and the electoral use of social programs. Both deny having committed irregularities.
The court had been absent since May and was only completed again recently, with the The expectation is that other relevant processes that have been stopped will now return to the agenda in the next sessions.
Isabel Gallotti made an 82-page vote in which she confirmed the TRE’s decision. According to the minister, the distribution of goods and services in an election year, with the delivery of basic food baskets and benefits; the renovation of homes for low-income families; the transfer of almost R$70 million in resources from the state government to 12 of the state’s 15 municipalities according to legal criteria; and the extrapolation of advertising expenses justify the conviction.
“The supposed situation of public calamity was used as a subterfuge for the massive irregular transfer of resources for the purpose of electoral benefits,” he stated, in reference to the justification that the programs served to serve the population during the Covid-19 pandemic.
