The president of the (Superior Electoral Court), will invite you to send an official monitoring mission for this year’s elections. If the invitation is accepted, it will be the first time that the European bloc will have a delegation of this type to accompany a .
Kassio has defended to interlocutors the need to expand international monitoring of the elections to shield the process against possible challenges to the results and electronic voting machines. He has also said that there will be greater transparency with the increase in the number of entities involved in monitoring.
The changes to the electoral system in the 2022 dispute were one of the hallmarks of (PL), responsible for nominating Kassio to the (Supreme Federal Court).
In that election, however, to accompany the election, something that had been articulated by the TSE management — the preparation of that electoral process spanned the presidencies of , and .
The type of electoral commission being negotiated this year with the EU is the so-called . According to the European External Action Service, EEMs are made up of independent experts who monitor a country’s electoral process for around two months. They do not have public visibility, but produce a report with recommendations.
“Experts impartially assess whether the electoral process is conducted in accordance with international, regional and national obligations regarding the holding of democratic elections,” says the EU’s external service.
This is a smaller and less comprehensive format than Electoral Observation Missions (EOM), whose delegations are larger, stay in the country for longer, visit polling places, interact with the press and publish detailed conclusions and suggestions to improve the electoral process.
According to people with knowledge of the electoral monitoring structure, there is not enough time to organize an EOM.
When contacted, the TSE said that the invitation to the European Union will be issued in the next few days.
“Electoral observation missions are regulated in a TSE resolution and observe strict criteria due to the various activities carried out by observers, such as visits to polling stations”, declared the court.
“The president of the TSE, minister Kassio Nunes Marques, understands that anyone interested in learning about the Brazilian voting system can participate as long as they meet the requirements set out in the TSE regulations.”
Also according to the court, the (Organization of American States), Uniore (Inter-American Union of Electoral Bodies) and the Network of Jurisdictional and Electoral Administration Bodies of the CPLP (Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries) have already confirmed their presence in the October election.
Completing the procedures for EU participation depends on coordination with the government (PT), as it is up to the Executive to issue invitations to international observers.
In the 2022 elections, when President Lula defeated Bolsonaro by a difference of 2.1 million votes, OAS, Uniore and sent observation missions. In addition to them, the Carter Center (an institute founded by ), Ifes (International Foundation for Electoral Systems) and the organization Transparencia Electoral also participated.
In that election, when the Bolsonaro government was against the invitation to the European Union, the argument of the then chancellor, Carlos França, was that Brazil is not a member of the European Union. Furthermore, he stated that the EU does not send observation missions when its own member countries hold elections.
“I think we can, with the OAS and other organizations, take this care of electoral observation without depending on an organization that, strangely enough, within its own members does not carry out an electoral mission”, said França, in May 2022, during a hearing in the Chamber of Deputies.
before taking office at the TSE, Kassio told allies that the debate about the fairness of voting could resurface, the target of a disinformation campaign carried out in recent years by Bolsonaro’s allies.
In addition to expanding missions, he established, as rapporteur of the electoral resolutions approved by the court this year, the possibility of the OAB (Brazilian Bar Association) directly supervising the entire electoral process, a novelty for the election.
After the election, observers publish reports with conclusions and recommendations.
In 2022, for example, the OAS highlighted the work of the TSE as an institution that demonstrated .
“The mission [eleitoral] once again highlights the TSE’s ability to successfully organize a logistically complex election given the size of the country and the size of the electorate,” the organization said.
Among the recommendations made by the OAS in the electronic ballot box chapter were to provide institutional continuity to the Electoral Transparency Commission, “regulating its functions and technical scope, and evaluating its adequate composition in the future”; institutionalize results verification exercises carried out by the TCU (Federal Audit Court); and give more time for supervisory actors to carry out tests and “in-depth analyzes of the different components of electoral technology”.
In the Carter Center’s list of recommendations, there were suggestions to expand voter access to polling places and to create specific funds that would allow universities to be more engaged in ballot audit processes.
International missions in elections
2018 – OAS (Organization of American States)
2022 – Carter Center, Ifes (International Foundation for Electoral Systems, (OAS), Parlasul (Parliament of), Rojae-CPLP (Network of Jurisdictional and Electoral Administration Bodies of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries, Uniore (Inter-American Union of Electoral Bodies) and Electoral Transparency
2026 – OAS, Rojae-CPLP and Uniore. The European Union will be formally invited, according to the TSE. The participation of the Carter Center and Ifes is still undefined
