The minister of the (Federal Supreme Court) decided, at the request of a former supporter from PC do B’s days, to annul the resolution of the TRE (Regional Electoral Court) of Roraima that established the deadline for disqualification to contest elections for the buffer mandate of state governor.
The state will choose a new governor in place of Antonio Denarium (PP), along with his former deputy, Edilson Damião (União Brasil), for abuse of economic power.
The TRE had determined that, as the election was supplementary, carried out unexpectedly, all those who left public office within 24 hours of being revoked could be candidates. Dino, however, maintained that the deadline to be followed should be that of normal elections, between three and six months before the date of the first round (which will take place on June 21), and ordered the court to redo the resolution.
The change concerns the acting governor, Soldado Sampaio (Republicans), who is in office on an interim basis as he is the president of the Legislative Assembly, as the former governor and vice-president were impeached. The two opponents registered in the election, Antonia Pedrosa (PT) and the former mayor of Boa Vista Arthur Henrique (), were ineligible due to the injunction.
Dino’s decision sparked protests among the opposition. The deadline for registering applications ended on May 21, which prevents new candidates from being registered. As a result, Soldado Sampaio is the only one registered for the dispute. He was a supporter of Dino during his PC do B days, a party for which he served three terms as state representative before joining the Republicans in 2021.
President of the PP in Roraima, Senator Hiran Gonçalves states that the deadline completely made the participation of other candidates unfeasible and ignored what was the rule in 74 of 75 supplementary elections since 2022, which provided for compatibility within 48 hours after the impeachment or party convention.
“This made everyone unviable and left only one candidate, who is a person who is in the Republicans, but has been with PC do B his entire life,” he said.
“It’s a very strange business. We respect it, but we find it strange,” said the parliamentarian, who supports former mayor Arthur Henrique.
Until then, the former mayor of Boa Vista was considered the strongest name in the dispute, with 75% of the votes. He left office on April 2 to run for , within the six-month period of disqualification. If the TRE establishes the minimum term at three months, following Dino’s decision, the minimum date to be out of public office would be March 21st.
Antonia Pedrosa stepped down from public office on May 15, after the party convention. As a result, the PT candidate is also ineligible for the period defined by the minister.
A Sheet Dino sought out his advisor to comment on the opposition’s criticisms, but he responded that he cannot comment on processes and votes, as established by the Organic Law of the Judiciary.
In the decision, the minister maintained that the resolution established a “very short deadline that does not exist in law”, which could interfere with the process. “The general rule in the Brazilian electoral system is the uniform application of the federal regulatory framework to all elections, whether ordinary or supplementary, including the deadlines set out in the LC [Lei Complementar] 64/90”, he states.
Dino also criticized the delay in the Electoral Court in the action and highlighted that the action began in August 2022 in Roraima and reached the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) in 2024, but the trial only concluded on April 30, 2026 – already at the end of the elective mandate and after the then governor had resigned from office.
Soldado Sampaio is supported by the former senator (MDB), who will run for federal deputy in October, and by the former mayor of Boa Vista Teresa Surita (MDB).
Dino’s decision led the PL to seek out the president of the STF, to request that he revoke the injunction or at least submit the decision to the judgment of the other ministers.
“In an indirect way, the result of this action by Minister Dino says the following: we will not have an election. We will spend money, have ballot boxes, spend public resources, to elect a single candidate to compete with himself, who is the one who made the complaint”, said the general secretary of the PL, senator Rogerio Marinho, after the meeting.
