It was up to Brazilian congresswoman Bia Kicis, always her, to help articulate, in the Chamber, the overthrow of the text of the mini-electoral reform, the so-called collective candidacies, which she calls “bizarreness that doesn’t exist anywhere”.
Just to remind you, collective candidacies began to be used around eight years ago and consist of presenting, for a single vacancy of deputy or councilor, four to eight names from the same party or coalition. They promise that, if elected, they will serve together, in rotation.
The Superior Electoral Court accepted the registration of the legal figure, although it evidently only recognizes one name. If this candidate is elected, the official mandate is his, but he can open the doors for the others mentioned. In the last election, in 2022, parties such as PSOL, PT, PCdoB and Rede presented no less than 215 collective candidacies for the Legislature.
According to a report made by researcher Bárbara Lopes, from PUC Minas, only two won seats. “Paula da Bancada Feminista” and “Monica do Movimento Pretas” were elected state deputies in São Paulo, both for PSOL.
In the Federal District there were six such candidacies, including one for the Senate, which received a measly 8,133 votes, equivalent to half a percent of the total. Bia Kicis is still celebrating, because, “after we removed collective candidacies from the text of the mini-electoral reform, I also voted yes to the prohibition of its creation by the TSE.
Get there to the Electoral Court
This is an additional effect of the measure. Another opponent, deputy Marcel van Hattem, from the Novo Party, assessed that the ban on collective candidacies is a message from Parliament against the Judiciary. “It’s saying to the Superior Electoral Court: no more meddling in what is not its duty, the duty to legislate belongs to the Chamber of Deputies”, he declared.
It is a reference to the fact that, even if they are outside the system, the collective candidacy can be registered with this nickname by the Electoral Court, even if only one name is voted on.
The victory of the amendment by Bia Kicis and van Hatten overturned the regulation of collective candidacies that was proposed in the basic text of the proposal’s rapporteur, PT deputy Rubens Pereira Júnior, closely linked to minister Flávio Dino.
Another non-believer, Bibo Nunes, from Rio Grande do Sul, stated that collective candidacies lead to fraud: “how does a candidate receive votes from those who voted for another? It’s a deception.” The rapporteur defended the thesis that collective candidacies are approved by the Superior Electoral Court and do not change much.
“In the collective candidacy there is only one candidate, the others are supporters”, stated Rubens Pereira Júnior. Fernanda Melchionna, leader of PSOL, lamented, stating that “we need to recognize these collective mandates that exist and that fight for popular and social demands”.
Race against the clock
Approved by the Chamber of Deputies, which did everything it could to approve the mini-reform in the shortest possible time, the race against the clock now takes place in the Senate. The problem is that any change in electoral rules must come into force at least one year before the next first round.
In other words, the mini-reform needs to be approved by the Senate and promulgated by President Lula by October 6th to come into force in the 2024 elections.
To complicate matters, in the Senate, the mini-reform will need to be analyzed by the Constitution, Justice and Citizenship Commission.
It already has a rapporteur, Piauí senator Marcelo Castro, a government member, but the texts will be attached to the complementary bill that creates a new Electoral Code, but it has been stuck in the CCJ since 2021, when it was forwarded to the Senate by the Chamber. It is a knot that, to be untied, requires political will.
The post “Bizarre” collective candidates vetoed in the Chamber appeared first in Jornal de Brasília.
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