Congress Approves Bill that Censors Electoral Research and Weakens Party Inspection

Electoral quarantine for judges, military, and police was rejected; vote should be completed next week, and then the bill goes to the Senate

Congress approved the basic text of the proposal to repeal all ordinary electoral legislation Thursday (9). The government plans to replace it with a single code that has 898 articles. There were 378 votes in favor of the bill and 80 against it.

This is the main project of the electoral package led by the Congressional leader Arthur Lira (PP-AL) and reported by one of his main allies, Margarete Coelho (PP-PI). Among the various changes debated by the deputies and foreseen in the base text are the censorship of electoral polls and the weakening of transparency norms, inspection, and punishment of politicians and parties for misuse of public funds.

There is also the proposal to restrict the power of the Electoral Court to regulate elections. The five-year electoral quarantine for judges, members of the Public Prosecutor's Office, the military, and police who want to contest elections —and which would only come into effect from 2026 onwards— ended up not having enough votes to maintain itself.'

Translated by Kiratiana Freelon

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