Rejected accounts don't automatically mean ineligibility, says Brazil's top electoral court president

Kassio Nunes Marques, president of Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE), stated that the rejection of a candidate's accounts, particularly those who held public office, does not automatically render them ineligible to run for office. He explained that while decisions from the Court of Accounts can be a determining factor for electoral justice, the mere rejection of accounts does not, in itself, automatically create ineligibility.

Marques referenced the 'Clean Slate' law, enacted in 2010, which mandates the presence of intent (dolo) – a deliberate act of wrongdoing – for a candidate with rejected accounts to become ineligible. Further amendments in 2021, sanctioned by then-President Jair Bolsonaro, stipulated that ineligibility does not apply to candidates whose irregularities caused no financial harm to public coffers or who were penalized only with a fine. This clarifies the conditions under which account rejections translate into electoral disqualification.

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The decision rendered by the Court of Accounts may constitute a determining element for the analysis by the Electoral Justice of a potential cause of ineligibility, [but this] does not mean, however, that the rejection of accounts produces in itself and automatically ineligibility.

The TSE president emphasized that the Electoral Justice system's role is not to reinvestigate accounting irregularities already assessed by the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU). Instead, the TSE's responsibility is to determine if such acts constitute intentional wrongdoing and are irremediable. Key criteria for this analysis include the competence of the judging body, the nature of the examined accounts, and whether the decision faced suspension or annulment.

"The Electoral Justice has the duty to rigorously apply the legislation, but this rigor must be accompanied by legal certainty, respect for due process, and observance of constitutionally established competencies," Marques asserted. This year, the TCU provided the TSE with a list of approximately 6,100 public managers whose accounts were rejected over the past eight years. The majority of these cases involve former mayors and council members from smaller municipalities, with 266 individuals identified as 'exposed', including 114 mayors, 135 council members, and several state and federal deputies, as well as a senator.

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The Electoral Justice has the duty to apply the legislation rigorously, but this rigor must be accompanied by legal certainty, respect for due process, and observance of constitutionally established competencies.