Aides and allies of the senator (PL-RJ) assess that recent decisions by the (Supreme Federal Court) indicate a willingness on the part of ministers to ignore electoral rules and have a performance that could harm him in the presidential dispute against (PT).
Flávio repeats the accusation made by his father, the former president (PL) in 2022, that he interfered in the result of the election, won by Lula, which motivated coup reactions.
The fear that STF ministers will act with bias this year has already been publicly exposed by Flávio and the pre-campaign coordinator, senator (PL-RN), and motivated meetings with the president of the court, .
Members of Flávio’s pre-campaign assess that the First Panel of the STF, composed mainly of ministers considered political opponents of Bolsonarism, will empty the powers of the (Superior Electoral Court) in the October election.
As shown by Sheetthis wing of the Supreme Court is preparing to face the administration of . The First Class is made up of , , Cristiano Zanin and Cármen Lúcia.
Despite appeals to Fachin, Flávio’s allies say they have no way out. They believe that the president of the STF does not have the profile to confront the other ministers.
Likewise, those around the senator do not see Kassio as an unconditional ally and doubt his willingness to oppose the First Panel, despite the minister having been appointed by Bolsonaro. In their view, Kassio will at least not pursue Flávio as president of the TSE as Moraes did with Bolsonaro in 2022.
When contacted by the report, Moraes, Dino and Zanin declined to comment.
Last Tuesday (16), the former deputy (PL-SP), Flávio’s brother, condemned him for coercion.
Behind the scenes of the pre-campaign, criticism of the ministers’ performance is harsh and cites decisions regarding the elections in Rio de Janeiro and Roraima, seen as strange.
In Rio, the president of the Court of Justice, in the position of governor instead of the president of Alerj (Legislative Assembly of ), Douglas Ruas (), which Bolsonarists consider a break in the line of succession. Couto is in office.
Still under the command of Cármen Lúcia, the TSE decided that the election model (direct or indirect) for choosing a successor to Claudio Castro (PL) is up to the STF. The issue has been paralyzed in the Supreme Court since April after Dino requested a review of the dispute.
The case of Roraima is seen by Flávio’s pre-campaign as especially serious. Dino annulled a decision by the TRE (Regional Electoral Court) and for a buffer mandate for state governor. PL candidate, the former mayor of Boa Vista Arthur Henrique had the majority of votes, but from the minister.
Defenders of the STF’s actions state that it is the court’s role to review TSE decisions and act whenever called upon. They remember that the Rio and Roraima cases were taken to the Supreme Court through provocations by parties interested in the elections only after the TSE had taken around two years to resolve them.
Last week, Marinho used the Senate rostrum to state that the TSE prevented the Brazilian right from telling the truth in 2022, in reference to decisions to remove content, and that this year the opposite is happening: “This TSE […] which influenced the outcome of the election in a partial way, now, with a new framework, it is being overturned”.
In April, after Moraes opened an inquiry to investigate Flávio on suspicion of slander, the senator stated, also in plenary, . “Since Alexandre de Moraes is no longer at the TSE, he will want to unbalance the elections there at the Supreme Court,” he said.
Faced with a mistrust that they consider legitimate, Flávio and Marinho met with Fachin last month to ask the STF to act with balance. The pre-candidate was alone, while the coordinator was accompanied by Maria Claudia Bucchianeri, former TSE minister and pre-campaign lawyer, and Marcelo Bessa, PL lawyer.
According to Marinho’s advisors, he defended the autonomy of the Electoral Court at the meeting and mentioned the cases of Rio and Roraima. “We want to prevent this from becoming a habit. It is a dangerous precedent for democracy and for the population’s free expression through elections,” he said.
There was an expectation that Fachin would take Dino’s decision, confirmed by the First Panel, regarding the deadline for non-compatibilization to the court’s plenary, which the minister did not do.
Flávio, in turn, committed to respecting the court during the campaign and, on the other hand, demanding that magistrates be exempt from the dispute. The pre-candidate asked that the arbitration of conflicts in the election be made within the scope of the TSE, under Kassio, and not in the STF, where Bolsonarism has accumulated defeats.
In 2022, when he ran for re-election, Bolsonaro made a . At the time, his allies criticized the Electoral Court’s takedown of right-wing content on the networks, which, for them, .
