Members of the (Superior Electoral Court) have been betting on recent decisions taken by the court to try to contain politics in this year’s elections.
The precedents that the court established in judgments last year are seen as the main means available for candidates who have relations with these criminal groups not to be elected or, if they succeed, to be impeached after the electoral period.
Starting in May, on a date yet to be defined, the electoral court will have as president the minister of the (Supreme Federal Court), whose mandate runs until May of next year.
The minister has said to interlocutors that the court tends to maintain similar understandings in cases that will be judged during his mandate and that he himself considers it a harsh way of applying punishments to candidates.
The first situation that must be analyzed by the TSE concerns the registration of candidacy.
One of the reference cases was judged in May last year and was reported by then minister André Ramos Tavares. In it, the court understood that being linked to a militia or faction generates ineligibility, which can be determined at the time of registration.
It was rejected in the municipality of Belford Roxo (RJ) regarding the 2024 election due to involvement with a militia from Baixada Fluminense.
Candidate Luiz Eduardo Araújo had already been criminally sentenced to an eight-year sentence for “constituting a private militia that exercises territorial control over several neighborhoods in the municipality of Belford Roxo, through violent actions, threats, extortion, charging fees, irregular exploitation of services, loan sharking and even murder”.
The TRE (Regional Electoral Court) of Rio de Janeiro had already denied the candidacy, and the understanding was maintained by the TSE. The candidate argued at the time that he had not been convicted by a collegiate body, as established by the Clean Record Law, and that the principle of presumption of innocence should prevail.
At the time, when reading his vote, Tavares said that “there is no space for freedom under the rule of , nor room for the exercise of a conscious and unimpeded vote, based on free consent.” The rejection was unanimous.
At a later date, the Electoral Court must analyze possible cases of revocation of mandates.
In this case, the reference process regarding criminal organizations is the one that revoked a candidate elected in 2024 because of suspected links with the . José Braga had been elected mayor by the PSB, and Francisco Gardel was vice-president by the PP.
The decision that maintained the revocation was taken by the Court in March of this year. The case rapporteur is Minister André Mendonça.
The court understood that there was an abuse of political and economic power when analyzing an action presented by the Public Electoral Ministry. The Prosecutor’s Office pointed out that there was graffiti mentioning the criminal faction and threats to the competing candidate and his voters.
It also states that there were threats through messages and phone calls, in addition to the emptying of campaign events due to this intimidation.
Investigations by the Public Ministry and the police also pointed to the purchase of a luxury vehicle in Fortaleza that was transported to the Rocinha favela, in Rio, for a member of Comando Vermelho born in Santa Quitéria.
The cancellation of the ticket was initially decided unanimously by the TRE of Ceará. The electoral magistrates’ decision said that there was “use of a criminal faction to intimidate, threaten and expel supporters and would-be voters of the opposing party, undermine their campaign activities, and directly interfere with the freedom to vote.”
According to the court, “the proof of the illicit acts was evidenced through extensive documentary and testimonial evidence, including the direct action of a member of the faction that traveled from Rio de Janeiro to Ceará to carry out specific actions against the opposing candidacy.” The TRE-CE decision was maintained by the TSE.
The revoked candidates denied all accusations of involvement with organized crime in the process. They said that there was a restriction on the defense in the process and that the accusations were limited to conclusions about criminal acts that occurred “for reasons completely beyond the control” of the two.
The has also worried other bodies. A report by Abin (Brazilian Intelligence Agency) at the end of last year highlights external interference and the actions of organized crime as risks to the 2026 electoral process.
The document says that the influence of organized crime is manifested both in campaign financing actions and in the coercion of voters and the nomination of their own candidates, reaching, in extreme cases, the elimination of political opponents.
At the CNJ (National Council of Justice), the minister, who presides over the body, launched the Organized Crime Panel in March, which gathers procedural information on criminal organizations and militias.
The idea is to provide subsidies for the improvement of both public policies and judicial provision related to this topic.
