The president of the (Superior Electoral Court) has prioritized the indigenous agenda in his administration, which surprised some involved in the discussions, as he was appointed to the (Supreme Federal Court) by Jair Bolsonaro (PL), in whose administration no indigenous land was demarcated.
Kassio has frequently addressed the topic in meetings with members of the . Still as vice-president of the TSE, the minister was responsible for drafting the resolutions that guaranteed, for example, the creation of a funding quota for candidates who are part of native peoples. The magistrate took over as head of the electoral justice system on May 12.
People close to the magistrate say that he is especially concerned about ensuring that they can vote while having access to full information about the process and transportation free from political influence.
The president has told interlocutors that he intends to review the participation of mayors in transport management, passing responsibility to the electoral courts of each state. His assessment is that, as city halls transport these voters on voting day, local executive heads often take the opportunity to ask for votes from their candidates. The practice of exit polls is prohibited.
The topic was addressed by Kassio during his visit, at the end of May, to the TRE-PR (Regional Electoral Court of Paraná), which created an Ombudsman for Original Peoples to optimize the sharing of information about political rights and Electoral Justice responsibilities for these peoples.
Kassio also went to Belém in early February and held a public hearing with indigenous representatives. The listening aimed at drafting electoral resolutions that addressed the issue.
The rules approved for this year removed the section that restricted transport for indigenous people on voting day to the limits of the municipalities.
Furthermore, they establish that political parties will be obliged to allocate funding and time for electoral advertising on television in proportion to the number of indigenous candidates.
The change in financing creates a quota similar to that adopted for . The calculation of the use of the Party Fund and the Special Campaign Financing Fund will be made after the parties announce the percentage of candidates in August.
Self-declaration of ethnicity for sending resources may be monitored by indigenous associations and leaders, in order to prevent other candidates from taking advantage of the established priority.
They also make it illegal for the reserved amount to be applied to other candidacies and provide for punishment, such as refund of amounts and disapproval of campaign accounts. According to the text, the deviation will be considered serious, regardless of the value.
In April, the TSE decided by majority, when analyzing a case about the 2024 elections of amounts embezzled by a black candidate, .
The minister also included in the resolutions, for example, ILO Convention 169 on indigenous peoples, to ensure that indigenous people are consulted when changing voting locations. The initiative is unprecedented in the Electoral Court.
Measures that aim to guarantee the exercise of electoral rights for indigenous peoples already existed in previous years and were maintained in the rules: mandatory training of poll workers on the socio-cultural specificities of indigenous people, the exemption from fluency in Portuguese to issue a voter registration card, the possibility of voting in a section different from that of origin for convenience and the promotion of campaigns that encourage participation.
The resolutions on indigenous people were approved unanimously.
The changes to the rules and the prioritization of the topic by the president occur four years after the creation of the so-called “headdress bench”, an expression used by PSOL deputies Sônia Guajajara (SP) and Célia Xakriabá (MG). The election of the two was the result of a mobilization by Apib (Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil).
That year, according to data from the TSE, there were 186 self-declared indigenous candidates for all positions in dispute, 59 for federal deputy and 4 for senator.
In addition to them, other deputies who declare themselves indigenous were also elected: PT members Juliana Cardoso (SP) and Paulo Guedes (MG) and Bolsonaro member Silvia Waiãpi (PL-AP).
For the Senate, Wellington Dias (PT-PI) and Hamilton Mourão (Republicanos-RS) were elected in that dispute.
Despite celebrating the changes, indigenous representatives also criticize them. “If we don’t have mandatory applications, proportional financing is a dead letter”, says Jozileia Kaingang, executive director of Anmiga (National Articulation of Indigenous Women Warriors of Ancestrality).
Carol Santana and Luiz Peccinin, lawyers who follow the issue, highlight that the indigenous movement will need to pressure party leadership to give space to candidacies.
“Unlike the gender quota, which requires a minimum of 30% of the vacancies on the list to be filled by women, the indigenous quota is only proportional to the candidacies actually launched. This means that, if a party decides to register zero indigenous candidates so as not to have to share the electoral fund, it can”, they state, in a joint analysis.
HAS Sheetthe president of , Edinho Silva, stated that the party “has always been in favor” of indigenous candidacies and defended the changes. Asked if Nunes Marques’ performance on the issue surprised him, he said that the minister “has conducted the work with seriousness and responsibility”.
The president of , Paula Coradi, stated that the change was articulated by the then minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sônia Guajajara, who wanted to run for re-election as PSOL deputy for São Paulo.
A Sheet also questioned presidents of parties such as PL, PP, MDB, PDT, União Brasil, Solidariedade and Novo about their position on the changes, but there was no response.
