The (Superior Electoral Court) formed a majority this Tuesday (24) to condemn the ineligibility of the former governor of Rio de Janeiro () in the process in which he is accused of abuse of political and economic power in the 2022 elections.
Ministers Floriano de Azevedo Marques and Estela Aranha followed the votes of Isabel Galloti and Antônio Carlos, totaling four votes against the former governor. Previously, the minister voted to acquit Castro, considering that there was no proven impact on the outcome of the election.
The same score was recorded against the removed president of Alerj (Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro), Rodrigo Bacellar (União). There are still two votes to be cast, with just one more needed to form a majority against the former governor.
Castro and Bacellar have not yet commented on the score. In previous episodes, they stated that they interrupted the questioned social projects as soon as irregularities were highlighted.
The decision is expected to affect Castro’s plans to run for the Senate. to the position of governor this Monday (23), the day before the resumption of the trial, in order to avoid the penalty of impeachment. The objective was to guarantee the holding of an indirect election for the buffer mandate, which runs until the end of this year. The TSE’s removal from office could lead to a direct election, reducing the governor’s power of influence over his immediate succession.
The trial at the TSE was resumed after Kassio requested a review at the session on the 10th, when the case was back on the agenda after being suspended for four months for Minister Antônio Carlos to view.
The electoral action originated with the call, in June 2022. The case refers to the use of Uerj (University of the State of Rio de Janeiro) and the Ceperj Foundation to pay social project employees in cash and without disclosing their names.
An investigation by Rio discovered cash withdrawals from the “teller’s mouth”. In total, R$248 million were withdrawn from bank branches by tens of thousands of people who were part of the alleged scheme. Hiring was only interrupted in August, after public civil action by the state Public Ministry.
The case generated two judicial electoral investigation actions, one filed by the Marcelo Freixo (PT) ticket, defeated in the election, and another by the Electoral Prosecutor’s Office. (Regional Electoral Court of Rio de Janeiro) in May 2024 in a close vote, by 4 to 3. The Public Electoral Ministry took the case to the TSE, appealing the decision.
When the trial resumed, Kassio also stated that it was not proven that Castro’s re-election occurred due to the scheme. The former governor was elected in the first round with 58.67% of the valid votes.
“It is extremely doubtful that the figures involved in this specific case are superlative. […] It turns out that the existing elements do not translate into a degree of certainty that allows the members of the slate elected in the 2022 election for the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro to be punished, nor other defendants, with harsh penalties”, declared the minister.
Floriano, shortly afterwards, questioned the need for direct proof of the result.
“Abuse is illegal in itself. It does not depend on obtaining a possible result or the need for this result for the electoral dispute. It has already been decided in this Court that the margin of votes of the winner who committed an abuse is irrelevant to denaturing the characteristic or attribute of abusiveness of the conduct”, declared the minister.
Kassio, in turn, considered that there is not enough evidence in the process to allow the conviction of Castro and the other defendants in the electoral action over the so-called. He considered witnesses who pointed out the electoral use of government social projects as “specific reports”.
“In addition to the reports being punctual, considering the size of the contracts made, they suffer from inconsistency. […] One wonders how the existence of just three testimonies in a universe of 27 thousand hirings would be enough to prove the intention to impact the election that would take place in 2022”, said Nunes Marques.
Floriano, however, considered that “there are solid and harmonious evidence” in the process to demonstrate a “mechanism to leverage candidacies from those investigated and political alliances in the 2022 election”.
“The administrative negligence, marked by the informality of the procedures adopted, lack of criteria in hiring and defining responsibilities, generic nature of the projects to be developed, payment through cash, served the purpose of hiding the true purpose of the actions, which was the electoral benefit of the pre-candidates through the performance of those hired as true electoral canvassers”, stated the minister.
