The ruling of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), which could lead to the impeachment and disqualification of Rio Governor Claudio Castro (PL) and the President of the Legislative Assembly of Rio (Alerg) Rodrigo Basilar (Uniao Brasil), should only be appealed next year, and the evaluation of the court’s ministers is being heard in a reserved capacity.
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As the blog reported, the trial was characterized by a climate between TSE members and a lobby war involving the ministers of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Mayor Eduardo Paes (PSD), the President of the Senate, Davi Alcolombre (União Brasil-AP) and even Palacio do Planalto.
The impasse culminated in the review request submitted by Minister Antonio Carlos Ferreira last Tuesday (4). The Minister went on to indicate behind the scenes that he would need more time than expected to examine the process and the evidence collected before arriving at a conclusion.
According to Tokyo Stock Exchange regulations, review requests can last up to 60 days, and the minister has already indicated that he must use a significant portion of this time.
Measures that could lead to the collapse of the line of succession in Rio have been introduced by the Ministry of General Elections, Imperator President and defeated candidate for Rio’s government, Marcelo Freixo.
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The assessment expressed by the minister to interviewers is that the proceedings require careful examination of the evidence and their political ramifications, because the outcome could lead to new elections being called – an issue taken into account by part of the court concerned with the logistical difficulties of facilitating new elections in the country’s third largest electoral body less than a year before the general election in October.
“It is a choice of the lesser of two evils,” sums up a member of the electoral tribunal whom the column team heard in private.
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Never before has a Rio governor been removed from office by the TSE.
If that happens, Judge Ricardo Coto de Castro, President of the Rio Tribunal of Justice (TJ-RJ), would temporarily take over the government of Rio de Janeiro, until by-elections are held. Electoral legislation stipulates two assumptions in the event of the isolation of governors. If this happens less than six months before the end of the term, the new elections will be indirect, with a vote from the state’s representatives. Outside this period, elections are direct.
“Political opportunism”
One of the TSE wings also believes it is better to wait until the dust settles, after being disturbed by the decision of TSE Chairman Carmen Lucia to look into the case immediately after the police operation that left 121 people dead in the Banha and Alemao complexes. Carmen’s timing raised alarm bells among allies of Castro and Pampulha and sparked criticism that the court acted with political opportunism, according to the minister’s colleagues.
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Postponing the outcome of the case is also part of the path of Castro’s allies, who are counting on a series of requests in order for the outcome of the trial to be revealed only when Carmen actually leaves the presidency of the Supreme Court, in June next year – and Cassio Nunes Márquez takes over the position.
Nunes Márquez, who was appointed to the Federal Supreme Court by former President Jair Bolsonaro, is considered a judge more amenable to the interests of the political class, closer to Centrao’s leaders — and, therefore, less inclined to vote to impeach Castro. The opposite of Carmen.
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As president of the Electoral Tribunal, Nunes Márquez will be the “agenda holder” and will have the power to set priorities and choose what his colleagues will judge in plenary sessions. Under these circumstances, the governor’s legal strategists believe they can obtain an acquittal.
Anti-leakage strategy
According to Tokyo Stock Exchange regulations, Antonio Carlos has up to 60 days to return the visa – in other words, if this period expires, the return of the visa will only be due in February, as procedural deadlines are frozen during the judicial holiday, which begins on December 20.
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Antonio Carlos asked to see the trial that took place last week after reading the vote of Rapporteur Isabel Galeotti, who defended the conviction and conviction of Castro and Basilar on charges of abuse of political and economic power in the so-called “Seberg scandal.”
In the case, revealed by UOL in 2022, it was discovered that there was a “secret payroll” of the Rio government, in which 45,000 people were appointed to temporary positions in Seaberg itself and at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UIRG), including allies of the governor and election supporters.
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