TSE accepts lawsuit over public funding for Carnival parade that honored Lula

Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) has agreed to process a lawsuit filed by the Novo Party challenging the public funding of a Carnival parade that honored President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The parade, by the Acadêmicos de Niterói samba school, featured the theme "From the top of the mulungu tree rises hope: Lula, the worker of Brazil."

The Novo Party alleges that the R$9.65 million in public funds used to finance the tribute constituted economic abuse and premature electoral propaganda. According to the lawsuit, public money was channeled through four entities: the municipalities of Niterói and Rio de Janeiro, the state government, and the Brazilian Agency for the Promotion of International Tourism (Embratur). The party claims these funding mechanisms were formalized after the samba school announced its intention to honor Lula, who was then a pre-candidate for re-election, in July 2025.

Further details in the lawsuit point to a municipal law in Niterói that allegedly allowed for direct allocation of funds to specific samba schools without a public bidding process. While the Public Prosecutor's Office in Rio de Janeiro contested this law, a court initially upheld the allocated funds to Acadêmicos de Niterói, citing the potential disruption to the parade's budget if the funds were suspended at that stage. Similar funding patterns are alleged for the contributions from the Municipality of Rio, the State Government, and Embratur.

The lawsuit also argues that the parade itself functioned as early electoral propaganda. The Acadêmicos de Niterói opened the Special Group's parade on Sunday, February 15, with a live broadcast reaching national television and digital platforms. President Lula and Vice President Geraldo Alckmin have been given five days to submit their defense in response to the allegations.