The plenary session of the Federal Supreme Court postponed this Wednesday (April 8, 2026) the judgment on the elections for the buffer mandate for the government of Rio de Janeiro. When analyzing actions that question the rules in the event of a vacancy in the position, ministers Cristiano Zanin and Luiz Fux disagreed on whether the choice of the new governor should be direct or indirect.
With the resignation of (PL) and the impeachment of the president of Alerj (Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro) Rodrigo Bacellar (União Brasil), the Guanabara Palace has been occupied since March 24, on an interim basis, by the president of the TJRJ (Court of Justice of Rio de Janeiro), Ricardo Couto de Castro.
Castro resigned from office 1 day before the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) . During this 4th trial, ministers Flávio Dino and Gilmar Mendes questioned minister Cármen Lúcia, president of the Electoral Court, about the result of the vote: they wanted to know if Castro had been impeached or if the object of the action had been harmed because of his resignation. She, in turn, responded that the mandate had not been revoked.
HOW MINISTERS VOTED
In his vote, minister Cristiano Zanin stated that STF precedents establish that, with a double vacancy for electoral reasons, a new election must be held. According to him, the Electoral Code establishes that, as the state government resigned before 6 months of the end of the mandate, a new electoral process would be necessary to define the buffer mandate.
Zanin recognized that Castro’s resignation was intended to circumvent a possible impeachment by the TSE and, with the support of state deputies, be able to elect a successor indirectly.
“Given this scenario, Mr President, I am here recognizing the electoral cause that gave rise to the double vacancy in the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro, and for this reason I understand that there is full adherence to the precedents of the STF“, he declared.
In turn, Luiz Fux, who is also the rapporteur for one of the actions on the agenda, disagreed with the possibility of applying direct elections. Fux stated that there was a procedural defect in the request, since the trial analyzes a Constitutional Complaint from the PSD of Rio de Janeiro.
For the minister, the PSD state directory only demonstrated a “political interest” so that its members can compete for the buffer mandate directly. According to the minister, the party should submit the case to the state courts, since it does not have the power to sue the Supreme Court.
“It is not possible for a state directory to represent a political party in a case where the object is a decision by the superior electoral court“, he declared. The minister understood that the case should not be preliminarily analyzed.
SECRET VOTE IN ALERJ
The ministers also differed in the hypothesis, analyzed in ADI (Direct Action of Unconstitutionality) 7942, in which the election for the buffer mandate is carried out by state deputies. Fux cited political violence as a reason for the indirect vote to be secret. The minister highlighted that political violence proliferates in the State, “especially during electoral periods”.
Zanin disagreed with Fux and considered that, in any indirect election, the right to transparency should be privileged, with a public record of how Alerj deputies voted for the buffer mandate.
On Tuesday (Apr 7), the Electoral Attorney General’s Office presented a favorable opinion to direct election for the buffer mandate. The demonstration understands that the legislation establishes a new direct election in cases where the position becomes vacant more than 6 months before the end of the electoral term.
“Notwithstanding the resignation on the eve of the trial, the establishment of the revocation of the diploma as a sanction within the scope of the electoral judicial investigation action is a formal recognition that the cause of the vacancy, in kind, arises from a judgment taken by the TSE, that is, it is a cause of an electoral nature”said electoral deputy attorney general Alexandre Espinosa Bravo Barbosa. Read the (PDF – 240 kB).
UNDERSTAND
On March 27, the majority of the STF had already positioned itself to maintain the indirect elections, with the votes of Cármen Lúcia, Edson Fachin, Dias Toffoli, André Mendonça, Nunes Marques and Luiz Fux.
However, Alexandre de Moraes understood that, as the former governor (PL) resigned from his position 1 day before the TSE decision that declared him ineligible, there was a political maneuver to make the process indirect. Moraes considered that Castro’s resignation sought to influence the indirect electoral process in Alerj, with the aim of guaranteeing his succession through political agreements.
The trial was halted after Minister Cristiano Zanin’s request for prominence. Then, the president of the court, Luiz Edson Fachin, scheduled the case for the 1st session after the Easter holiday, considering the urgency to define the case.
