Former leader of the Workers’ Party (PT) in the Chamber, federal deputy Lindbergh Farias (RJ), filed this Tuesday, 18, representation at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) against the former Minister of Tourism Gilson Machado Neto (Podemos-PE) and senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) for alleged practice of early electoral propaganda.
In the action, requesting an injunction, the parliamentarian cites a video published by Gilson on social media, in which he appears posting stickers with the phrase “The Northeast is with Flávio Bolsonaro 2026”, accompanied by the image of the senator. During the recording, according to the representation, the former minister states: “I’m going to elect the man. Our president.”
“The message conveyed leaves no room for doubt as to its objective: to promote, before the electorate, the future candidacy of the second represented candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, associating his name, image and political identity with the upcoming electoral campaign”, argues Lindbergh in the piece.
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The deputy also states that the act “transcends the abstract sphere of political debate and materializes true electoral campaign action” through the distribution of stickers and wide dissemination on the networks.
When contacted, Gilson Machado Neto and Flávio Bolsonaro did not speak out. The space remains open.
The parliamentarian asks the TSE to urgently remove, within 24 hours, all content considered irregular, prohibit further dissemination of the material and set a minimum daily fine of R$10,000 in case of non-compliance. On the merits, it requests recognition of the practice of advance advertising, with the imposition of an individual fine on both parties represented.
The representation also requests that the case be sent to the Public Electoral Ministry (MPE) to investigate possible abuse of political power and misuse of the media. The deputy maintains that, as he is a former minister of State and a direct political ally of the senator, the conduct would have the potential to influence the electorate and unbalance the dispute before the period allowed for electoral propaganda.
Former accordion minister joins Podemos
Last Friday, the 13th, Gilson Machado Neto made official his affiliation with Podemos and criticized the former acronym, the Liberal Party (PL). During a speech at the membership event, he stated that “the right has no owner”, in reference to the PL. According to him, he received “carte blanche” from Podemos to support Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign for President.
When he announced his disaffiliation from the PL, in January, Machado had stated that he would continue to compete for a seat in the Senate in Pernambuco. As shown by the Estadãothe PL was experiencing an internal dispute between the state president of the party, Anderson Ferreira, and Gilson Machado to define who would be the candidate for the Senate. With Machado’s departure, the party leader must be chosen.
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Gilson Machado is a close ally of former president Jair Bolsonaro, with whom he became close in 2018. He was secretary of the Ministry of the Environment during the former president’s administration and, in May 2019, he was appointed president of Embratur, remaining at the head of the state-owned company for more than a year.
Machado gained prominence for appearing to play the accordion in Bolsonaro’s lives during the covid-19 pandemic. The former minister is an accordion player, has recorded with names like Zé Ramalho and still plays in the band Brucelose. He has also taught the instrument to Bolsonaro. In December 2020, it was reassigned to the Ministry of Tourism.
