Some of the proposals made by the (Superior Electoral Court) in the previous texts presented by the court in January regarding the rules on electoral accountability raise the debate about possible loopholes that could, in practice, weaken female quotas, according to experts and organizations heard by the Sheet.
There are also points that could impact affirmative actions for black people and allow parties to inflate the number of these groups.
The final version of the resolution will still be voted on in the plenary and approved by March 5th.
According to current rules, at least 30% of the public campaign funds received by parties must be allocated to women’s campaigns – as well as 30% to black people. In 2026, they are.
A novelty in this election is that they must receive funding proportional to the percentage they represent in the party of which they are part.
The TSE draft provides that “actions aimed at preventing, repressing and combating violence against women”, as well as hiring security to protect candidates, are part of the calculation of the minimum quota of 30% of financing for female candidates.
One of the groups that criticizes this item is the NGO Transparência Brasil, which suggests that the electoral fund cannot be used for prevention actions, if they do not directly contribute to the candidate’s campaign. It also criticizes the estimated spending on security for candidates and defends a greater requirement for documents to inspect the item.
“There is also the risk of making this item an umbrella expense, disproportionately inflating the percentage allocated to women’s candidacies, once again weakening the effectiveness of the quota”, says the entity.
Nas (Electoral Attorney General) presented proposals on the topic. “To safeguard the effectiveness of public policy, security spending must comply with a limit of 5% of quotas, allowing for supplementation with other sources”, says the document.
For the same reason, the Public Electoral Ministry suggests that the provision that these expenses “must be preceded by motivated requests from the candidates directed to the party” be included in the rule.
Another criticized point is that, in the case of women, black and indigenous people, expenses for legal and accounting services must be declared in individual financial statements. The NGO suggests removing the article as it believes it would result in unequal treatment between candidacies from minority groups and others.
Denise Schlickmann, member of Abradep and specialist in accountability and electoral financing, also defends the exclusion of this article. She understands that the obligation to declare (whether for men or women) would be positive, but emphasizes that this should be done via the Legislature, given that at the moment the proposal for the resolution would be in disagreement with what the Brazilian Law says.
“He can [gerar um desbalanceamento]because there will be an extra expense in women’s accounts”, she says about the current format of the resolution.
Ana Claudia Santano, executive director of Transparência Eleitoral Brasil, sees advances in the rules for diversity, but also problems. “These small rules can impact the funding of campaigns for minority groups,” he says.
She argues that spending on security for candidates with electoral resources should be allowed, but should be paid for by the party, without being considered in the 30% of the fund to be allocated to women.
Gabriela Rollemberg, electoral lawyer and co-founder of the group ‘Quero Você Eleita’, says that it would be great if the party covered security expenses, but that this would not happen in the real world. Therefore, she considers it positive that it foresees that this type of spending can be made with electoral resources. “What the TSE is doing is ensuring the protection of women,” he says.
As for the rule on legal and accounting expenses, she considers that there is no innovation, in fact, but only the inclusion in the resolution of case law on the subject and that this would not have a negative impact.
For her, the problem is not in the resolution, but in the fact that the minimum percentage of 30% – which ends up becoming a ceiling – is still very small and criticizes that, even so, it is not respected.
As shown by Sheetmost parties. Based on official data from the financial statements submitted to the TSE, calculations showed that black and brown candidates no longer received R$741 million. In relation to women, non-compliance with the quota amounted to R$139 million.
In 2022, Congress had already approved a pardon for parties that did not fulfill “the minimum quota of resources or that did not allocate the minimum amounts based on sex and race” in previous elections.
One . It was established that parties that failed to comply with the racial quota in 2020 and 2022 could compensate for this distortion in the following four disputes, from 2026 onwards, thus escaping punishment.
