Minister denied the impeachment of Damião, current representative; Estela Aranha requested a review and postponed the conclusion of the case for the 3rd time
The minister of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) Kassio Nunes Marques voted, this Tuesday (April 14, 2026), for the ineligibility of the former governor of Roraima Antonio Denarium (PP), but sparing Edilson Damião (Republicans), current representative of the state. The trial was interrupted after Minister Estela Aranha requested a review.
With the postponement, the judge committed to returning the case for trial in “Next days”without indicating a specific date. Cármen Lúcia stated that she will wait for the minister’s vote, but highlighted that she would like to make her decision before ending her term as president of the court.
The score for Denarium’s ineligibility is 3-0. Regarding the revocation of the ticket, the score is 2-1.
Nunes Brands
When returning the case to the plenary, Nunes Marques stated that there is evidence of the distortion of social programs with the electoral benefit of former governor Denarium. However, the vote was to exclude the participation of Damião, vice-president and current governor.
Nunes Marques considered that it would not be possible to revoke the ticket elected in 2022 and highlighted that, if an impeachment is approved, within 6 months Roraima would have five governors — considering a supplementary election and the general elections at the end of the year.
The minister maintained that there is no relevant evidence of Damião’s participation and argued that the entire ticket should not be revoked, on the grounds that “exceptional circumstances”.
VOTES
In a session held in August 2025, rapporteur Isabel Gallotti. For the minister, there were irregularities in the Cesta da Família and Morar Melhor programs. According to her, the Roraima government tried to circumvent the legal prohibition that prohibits the creation of social programs in an election year without prior budget execution.
The minister identified a settlement of R$46,000 on December 29, 2021 for registering beneficiaries. “Which does not mean any delivery to voters, but merely a promise of benefit on the eve of the election year”he stated.
The case also involves the release of R$70 million to municipalities close to the electoral period, in addition to the use of institutional advertising to promote the governor’s personal profile.
In November 2025, André Mendonça partially followed the. While she agreed with all the allegations of the accusation, the minister saw abuse of political power in 2 of the 4 allegations made by the Public Electoral Ministry related to the programs mentioned in her vote.
UNDERSTAND THE CASE
You DO analyze it of Denarius e against the revocation determined by the (Regional Electoral Court of Roraima) in January 2024. At the time, the rapporteur stated that the party used R$70 million in transfers to municipalities with the implementation of the Morar Melhor housing program and R$11 million in the Cesta da Família food program. In this way, they would have used a large amount of public resources to be re-elected in 2022, causing an imbalance in competition.
The action against Denarium and Damião was filed by the coalition “Roraima Much Better”, of which the MDB, a party of. She was Denarium’s main opponent in the 2022 elections, with 41.14% of the vote.
The party was accused of using the public machine to distribute social benefits during the election period, such as the creation of the assistance program “Family BasketThe program was created in 2022 from the merger of 2 other government projects, increasing the number of beneficiaries from 10,000 to 50,000.
The prosecution argues that, with the implementation of “Family Basket”, whose income distribution would be permanent, the ticket would be violating the Elections Law, which prohibits the distribution of benefits, except in cases of public calamity.
