What does it mean to be ineligible? Ineligibility is a temporary impediment provided for in Brazilian law. This mechanism prevents a citizen from being elected to a political office and from receiving votes in an election. Our legislation establishes the existing criteria for defining ineligibility, but convictions in the TSE result in eight years of impediment.
Ineligibility is not the same thing as the suspension of political rights. The first is just a restriction for candidacies, while the second also restricts the right to vote and other political attributes of a citizen. Throughout Brazilian history, three former presidents have already been deemed ineligible.
Read too:How does a CPI work?
Topics of this article
- 1 - Summary of what it means to be ineligible
- 2 - Eligibility in the Brazilian electoral system
- 3 - What is ineligibility?
- 4 - What makes a citizen ineligible?
- 5 - Are ineligibility and suspension of political rights the same thing?
- 6 - Brazilian presidents who became ineligible
Summary of what it's like to be ineligible
Ineligibility is the temporary impediment of running for public office and receiving votes.
Ineligibility is not the same thing as suspension of political rights, according to Brazilian law.
Brazilian legislation defines the criteria that determine ineligibility.
In Brazilian history, three former presidents have already been considered ineligible: Collor, Lula and Bolsonaro.
Eligibility in the Brazilian electoral system
The Brazilian political system is organized based on free and democratic elections in which the population participates in the choice of their representatives and rulers using one of the manifestations of their political rights – the vote – to determine who will occupy the most important positions in the administration of our country.
You political rights It isthe electoral law are important because define who is entitled to vote and determinesm also who he can apply to the positions that exist in our political system. Therefore, if any Brazilian citizen wants to become a candidate, certain criteria must be met.
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The criteria that define who can apply and be voted for in the Brazilian electoral system is called eligibility. The criteria defining eligibility are as follows:
Have Brazilian nationality;
Be literate;
Be in the fullness of political rights;
Be up to date with military obligations (only for men);
Be affiliated with a political party at least six months before the election;
Be a resident of the municipality or state running for the position in question;
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Have the required minimum age:
18 years for councilor;
21 years for state, district and federal deputies and deputy mayor;
30 years for governor and vice governor;
35 years for president, vice president and senator.
See too: Federal Supreme Court — the highest court of the Brazilian Judiciary
What is ineligibility?
Ineligibility is, therefore, the temporary suspension of a citizen's candidacy and being voted in the our country's electoral system. It can be established by not meeting the minimum criteria to apply and be voted, but there are also other possibilities provided for by law.
What makes a citizen ineligible?
all who do not meet the requirements established by laware considered ineligible. Another criterion that may determine a person's ineligibility is be framed in the Clean Record Law. In addition, people who are second degree relatives of someone who holds a post in the Executive cannot be elected.
In another scenario, politicians who were removed from their positions for irregularities in the exercise of their mandate or who were judged by the Electoral Court and subsequently convicted of irregularities committed while they were in power also become ineligible. In these cases, a number of factors can contribute to making a politician ineligible, as:
Abuse of political power;
Abuse of economic power;
Electoral corruption.
Finally, O disrespect for the Constitutionit is also a criterion that can determine ineligibility. The politician who becomes ineligible in a running process in the Electoral Court, loses the right to run and be voted for eight years from the conviction.
Know more: All about the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff
Are ineligibility and suspension of political rights the same thing?
A confusion that can be quite common in this matter is that involving the differences between ineligibility and suspension of political rights. In summary, the two do not match à same thing, having differences. Anyone who becomes ineligible loses the right to stand as a candidate and be voted for, but retains his political rights, being able to participate in an election as a voter.
Already those who have their political rights suspended cannot run for office or receive votes. It is can't vote in an election, nor in plebiscites and referendums, nor can it propose popular actions.
Brazilian presidents who became ineligible
In Brazilian history, a total of three presidents were condemned to ineligibility and therefore lost the right to run for office. These presidents were: Fernando Collor de Melo, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and jair Messiah Bolsonaro.
Here is a summary of each of these cases:
Fernando Collor de Melo: he was elected president in the 1989 election, sworn in as president in 1990 and during his term he was denounced for involvement in a corruption scheme involving the collection of millions of dollars from illicit way. Impeachment proceedings have been opened against him. It isin 1992, he was removed from office, being ineligible for eight years.
Lula: he was president of Brazil between 2003 and 2010, being elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2006. He became the target of Operation Lava Jato, accused of being involved in a money laundering corruption scheme. With the conviction he was made ineligible and could not run in the 2018 election – in which he was quoted as one of the possible candidates. Lula's situation, in turn, underwent a major upheaval. He, who had been sentenced to 12 years in prison, was released and had his sentence annulled because the judge involved in the case was considered partial and the Justice of Curitiba was considered incompetent to judge the case of the ex-president. Therefore, Lula became eligible again, contested the 2022 presidential election, winning the election and taking over as president, in 2023, in a third term.
Jair Bolsonaro: in 2023, the former president was found ineligible in a judgment carried out by the Superior Electoral Court, the body responsible for coordinating Brazil's electoral system. the former president was convicted of abuse of political power by holding an event with ambassadors, in July 2022, to attack the Brazilian electoral system. At the time, Bolsonaro used the meeting to criticize the electronic voting machines and question the fairness of the Brazilian electoral process. Bolsonaro's speech was broadcast on state-run TV Brasil. All of Bolsonaro's criticisms and denunciations were said without evidence to justify what he said.
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Sources
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By Daniel Neves Silva
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