DistantNews
Support us
🇧🇷 Brazil /Elections & Politics

Minas Gerais electoral court blocks Eduardo Cunha’s congressional candidacy

From Estadão · () Portuguese

Translated from Portuguese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources In the courts
  • Brazil’s Minas Gerais Regional Electoral Court unanimously rejected former Chamber Speaker Eduardo Cunha’s bid for a seat in the Federal Chamber.
  • The court applied the Clean Record Law, citing his 2016 congressional ouster, an administrative misconduct conviction and a Supreme Court investigation.
  • Cunha called the ruling political and said he would appeal, potentially taking the case to Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court.

Brazil’s Minas Gerais Regional Electoral Court unanimously blocked Eduardo Cunha’s bid to return to the Federal Chamber, ruling that the former speaker remains ineligible until February 2027.

The court upheld the application of the Clean Record Law to Cunha, who lost his congressional mandate in September 2016 for breaching parliamentary decorum. It also declared unconstitutional a 2025 supplementary law that eased penalties for politicians.

The ruling additionally cited an administrative misconduct conviction by the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice and a Supreme Federal Court investigation into whether Cunha belonged to a criminal organization involved in the so-called Secret Budget. The electoral court accepted a challenge filed by state deputy candidate Roberta Alves and partly followed the Electoral Public Prosecutor’s Office.

This decision was political, legally absurd, and the Regional Electoral Court is trying to usurp the authority of the Supreme Federal Court by declaring a federal supplementary law unconstitutional.

· Eduardo CunhaCunha denounced the Minas Gerais electoral court’s decision blocking his candidacy.

Cunha told Estadão that he would appeal. “This decision was political, legally absurd, and the Regional Electoral Court is trying to usurp the authority of the Supreme Federal Court by declaring a federal supplementary law unconstitutional,” he said. “Obviously I will appeal. My candidacy stands, and I will go all the way.”

This was not Cunha’s first attempt to run after his ouster. He sought a Federal Chamber seat in 2022, received 5,000 votes and was not elected.

Obviously I will appeal. My candidacy stands, and I will go all the way.

· Eduardo CunhaCunha said he would challenge the ruling.
About this summary

Originally published by Estadão in Portuguese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog