The senator failed to vote in 43% of the nominal deliberations this year, according to a survey by Sheet in the House records. He is the fifth parliamentarian, tied with four others, who most failed to register his vote in the 49 matters analyzed until June 22nd.
Roll call votes occur when senators need to record their vote on a proposal. Symbolic votes were discarded, in which it is not possible to check each senator’s vote or even whether he was actually in the plenary or online (in blended sessions) during the session.
The survey considers votes in which senators were present, but did not vote, or in which they did not appear. Absences justified for health reasons, official missions, political activity, paternity leave or other provisions are not included in this calculation.
Following this criterion, the average absence of voting records for the 81 senators is 20%. There were roll call votes in 14 Senate sessions between February 24th and June 16th.
Flávio Bolsonaro was present, but did not vote, for example, in the analysis of the PEC (Proposed Amendment to the Constitution) that establishes the National Policy to Support Professional Road Transport Activity and the complementary bill that .
The senator also attended the session, but did not vote on the project that authorizes the government to use funds from Funpen (National Penitentiary Fund) for the training and continued training of employees of the national penitentiary system and criminal police officers.
The pre-candidate missed the session in which nominations from various authorities were voted on, such as ambassadors and the new president of the CVM (Securities Commission), Otto Lobo. He also did not attend the session in which the law was approved that exempts philanthropic entities from paying Income Tax and other federal taxes.
Since December, when he was chosen as a pre-candidate for president by his father, Jair Bolsonaro, the PL-RJ senator has had an intense schedule of commitments related to the pre-campaign. He has already made trips to the United States and has traveled to Brazil for events with supporters and allies, as well as meetings to define regional platforms. He also in Argentina.
Flávio was contacted by his press office on Friday (26) by email and telephone, but did not respond until the publication of this report.
The senator (-RJ) was the one who most failed to register his position in roll call votes in 2026. He was absent in 20 of the 38 votes in which he was in office. His substitute, Bruno Bonetti (PL), took over from last December to April this year.
The former football player continues to hold the mandate, despite being in North America. The event takes place in Canada, the United States and Mexico and runs until July 19th. The forecast is that Senate votes during this period, if they occur, will take place semi-in-person, via cell phone.
After Romário, senator Wilder Moraes (PL-GO) appears with the highest record of absences. Pre-candidate for the Government of Goiás, he failed to vote in 24 nominal deliberations, 49% of the total. Then, there is a tie for third place: both Angelo Coronel (Republicanos-BA) and Oriovisto Guimarães (PSDB-PR) did not vote in 47% of the rolls.
Thus, Flávio Bolsonaro is in a five-fold tie for fifth place in the ranking of absences in votes. He did not participate in 43% of these deliberations, as did Cleitinho (Republicanos-MG), Eduardo Gomes (PL-TO), Professor Dorinha Seabra (-TO) and Wellington Fagundes (PL-MT).
The ranking of the ten most absent in roll-call votes is closed by senator (-AL). He missed 20 of the 49 votes this year (41%). The Senate has 81 parliamentarians.
WHAT SENATORS SAY
Romário’s office stated, contrary to what the data shows, that he was absent in only two sessions. “In one case he registered and did not vote, as he returned to the state (15/04), and in another he was out of the country (20/05)”, he said in a note.
Dorinha Seabra’s team stated that “the votes mentioned took place on days in which the senator was fulfilling a previously scheduled institutional agenda, both in Brasília and Tocantins”.
“Parliamentary action goes far beyond voting in plenary. The mandate is also exercised through the articulation of public policies, service to municipalities, institutional meetings, activities that the senator performs daily”, says the note.
Angelo Coronel said that he did not register any absences and that the absences were “formally communicated and justified to the General Secretariat of the Board, generally on days when he was attending municipal authorities in Salvador”.
The Bahian parliamentarian’s team stated that he voted on all PECs and bills, only absenting himself from indications from authorities. “These votes, therefore, did not refer to bills, provisional measures or vetoes, for example,” he responded in a note.
Wellington Fagundes stated, through his consultancy, that he “maintains an intense parliamentary role, with the presentation and reporting of projects, participation in committees, public hearings and institutional agendas”. He highlighted that, as president of Frenlogi (Mixed Parliamentary Front for Logistics and Infrastructure) and leader of the bloc formed by PL and Novo, he has “duties that often involve institutional commitments in Brasília and outside the federal capital”.
Cleitinho’s office claims that the senator was present in the 177 projects voted on until May, counting the symbolic votes, highlighting that he was in the Senate even when he stopped voting.
He says that, on the days when he was present, but did not vote, there were marches by councilors and mayors in Brasília. In this way, he assessed that, as Minas Gerais has 853 municipalities, he should assist the local politicians who were in his office.
In addition to Flávio, the teams of senators Renan Calheiros, Wilder Moraes and Eduardo Gomes were contacted by phone, but did not respond until the publication of this report. Oriovisto Guimarães stated that he would not comment.
