The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) is expected to go through a change in its composition of starting ministers. This week, the president of the Court, Minister Cármen Lúcia, should take to vote in the Supreme Court (STF) two lists with three names each to occupy the vacancies intended for law. One must exclusively have women names, according to court members.
TSE and STF interlocutors heard by the globe state that the idea behind Cármen Lúcia’s initiative is to make the 2026 court countertop with at least one woman in the 2026 elections. This is because not only will she leave the court on the eve of the election – her mandate ends in August 2026 – as the other minister of the current electoral court, Isabel Gallotti, will also have completed her term at the time. Gallotti occupies a chair for the Superior Court of Justice (STJ).
When choosing to make two triplic lists and not a sextupla list, and one containing names only of women, the president of the TSE also sends a signal to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, responsible for hammering the appointment of ministers.
The TSE is composed of seven holder ministers. Of this total, there are three from the Supreme Court, two from the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) and two lawyers from the law.
The model of choice of the graduates of the Advocacy occurs in two steps: first, the STF votes the list with three candidates. The names are sent to the Planalto Palace, and the Chief Executive chooses who will name it. With his initiative, Carmen Lúcia indicates to the president that one of the names chosen should be a woman. The nominee does not go through sabbath in the Federal Senate.
Two chairs
The dance of the chairs occurs due to the end of the mandates of ministers André Ramos Tavares and Floriano de Azevedo Marques, both representatives of the law chosen two years ago, during the management of Alexandre de Moraes.
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The idea is that one of the lists contain the names of Floriano and Ramos Tavares, who can renew their mandates for two more years.
The tradition in the TSE is that the ministers will be reappointed, and the cases in which this renewal does not happen. Therefore, Cármen Lúcia’s proposal has faced resistance within the Supreme, where lists with the names of future ministers are appreciated.
For some ministers, Ramos Tavares and Floriano have been doing a good job and should be reappointed. However, the minister has been acting behind the scenes to trim these edges until next Wednesday, when the lists will be voted.
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The need to expand the presence of women in courts is a constant charge of Cármen Lucia. At an event at the TSE in March, the minister stressed that women are more than half of the Brazilian population, and more than half of the electorate.
“It seems that institutions have not yet realized that women matters, matters to their existence, matters to the existence of others, it matters for us to have a true democracy,” said the magistrate.
Low presence
Today, in addition to Cármen Lúcia, Isabel Gallotti, Floriano de Azevedo Marques and André Ramos Tavares, the court has ministers Nunes Marques, who will preside over the court, André Mendonça and Antonio Carlos Ferreira.
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In addition to Carmen Lúcia and Gallotti in the starting composition, the Electoral Court also has Vera Lúcia Santana Araújo and Edilene Lôbo in the substitute team. They only participate in judgments, however, in case of impediment or absence of colleagues.
In the STF, Carmen is the only minister between 11. In the STJ, there are five ministers between 33. In the Superior Military Court (STM), there is a single woman, Minister Maria Elizabeth Rocha, president of the Court.
