The minister of the (Superior Electoral Court) voted this Tuesday (14) to make the former Antonio Denarium () ineligible until 2030 for abuse of political and economic power in 2022, but was in favor of maintaining the current head of the state Executive, Edison Damião (União Brasil), in office.
The trial was suspended following a request for review (more time for analysis) from Minister Estela Aranha. The judge stated that she will not use the entire 60-day period to return her vote. In addition to her, Antonio Carlos Ferreira, Floriano Zavedo and Cármen Lúcia are still missing.
There are three votes to make Denarium, who left office to run for the Senate, ineligible. The rapporteur of the case, minister Isabel Gallotti, and André Mendonça, who will present a complement to his vote with the resumption of the analysis, also voted in this sense. The trial has already lasted two years.
In relation to Damião, the score is 2 to 1 due to the revocation of his mandate and his ineligibility for eight years.
In his vote, Kassio stated that the illicit conduct carried out in favor of the former governor’s candidacy impacted the normality of the 2022 state elections, but he understood that Damião would not have participated in the alleged crimes.
The magistrate also argued that “factual situations allowed the exceptional maintenance” of the mandate of the current governor, who was Denarium’s deputy.
The two politicians were convicted by the TRE-RR (Regional Electoral Court of Roraima), but were able to remain in office because the TSE has not yet finalized the analysis. The state court also declared Denarium ineligible and ordered new elections for the government to be held.
They respond for the alleged use of the public sector in favor of the re-election of the then governor and the electoral use of social programs. Both deny having committed irregularities.
Kassio Nunes Marques argued that the Electoral Court must preserve the popular vote as much as possible. According to him, removing the head of the local Executive from power in the last six months of his term generally implies successive removals, which could lead to Roraima having six governors in the period.
“Within six months, we would have six governors: the one who resigned, the one who is now, the one who will succeed him, if he is removed, the next one to be elected in a supplementary election, whatever model, and the next one to be elected in October”, he said.
Minister Estela Aranha mentioned the “unexpected” understanding presented by Kassio, to which the other ministers did not have prior access, and the impact of a decision when justifying the request for more time for analysis. She stated that she should return her vote “next week”.
In response, Kassio said that he was unable to share the vote with his colleagues, stating that he finished the text “a few moments” before the court session began.
With the successive requests for review, the president of the TSE, Cármen Lúcia, who will leave the court on June 3, argued that it is necessary to finalize the judgment of the case. “I think that given the delay in this trial, it would be good for us to finish, this is essential,” he declared.
The minister took a year to decide on the trial. The analysis of the case began on August 20, with oral arguments. On August 26, Gallotti cast his vote for impeachment. Afterwards, Mendonça and then Kassio asked for a view.
UNDERSTAND THE CASE
The TRE-RR understood that the use of the public machine to carry out actions prohibited to public agents during the electoral period was proven, with the aim of obtaining political advantages in the dispute, in addition to making electoral use of the Cesta da Família and Morar Melhor social programs.
There were four revocations at the state level, the last two in January and November 2024.
Isabel Gallotti made an 82-page vote in which she confirmed the TRE’s decision. According to the minister, the distribution of goods and services in an election year, with the delivery of basic food baskets and benefits; the renovation of homes for low-income families; the transfer of almost R$70 million in resources from the state government to 12 of the state’s 15 municipalities according to legal criteria; and the extrapolation of advertising expenses justify the conviction.
“The supposed situation of public calamity was used as a subterfuge for the massive irregular transfer of resources for the purpose of electoral benefits,” he stated, in reference to the justification that the programs served to serve the population during the Covid-19 pandemic.
André Mendonça stated that the creation of the Cesta da Família social program and the improper execution of the Morar Melhor program, both in 2022, an election year, would result in the loss of his mandate.
The governor was re-elected with a difference of 44 thousand votes for second place. The minister stated that if only the beneficiaries of the two programs were considered, there would be a quantity greater than the distance between the candidates.
Mendonça highlighted the exponential jump in the number of beneficiaries, going from 10 thousand families in the previous program (2020) to the possibility of serving up to 50 thousand families in the new 2022 program.
