Senate to Vote on Bill Reducing Transparency in Election Campaigns, Says G1

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Senate is expected to vote this week on a bill, passed by the Lower House, which may reduce transparency and hinder the monitoring of any irregularities in election campaigns, according to experts and legislators heard by G1 and TV Globo.

The bill, changing electoral legislation, the law on parties and other rules, is the first item on the Lower House’s voting agenda for Tuesday, September 17th. Legislators favoring the text are rushing to examine the project, to enable the new rules to apply to the 2020 elections.

Under the principle of annuality, changes in electoral rules must be approved at least one year before the forthcoming election. Therefore, the proposal should be voted on promptly and without changes to the content approved by the deputies.

Last week, senators tried to put the proposal to a vote as a matter of urgency, but there was resistance and the analysis was deferred to this week.

Initially, the bill only changed rules for the compensation of political party employees. However, the text was converted into a mini electoral reform.

Among the points in the bill that would make it difficult for electoral courts to monitor any irregularities in campaigns are the extension of deadlines for accountability, the possibility of using any accounting systems available on the market, and longer time for data correction.

Account monitoring

If approved, the text could hinder inspection by the Electoral Court system, since it makes it more flexible for parties to render electoral accounts, extending their submission deadlines.

In addition to extending the date for party accountability from April 30th to June 30th, the bill allows parties to also submit their electoral accounts on that day.

Currently, electoral accountability by the parties is handled through a Superior Electoral Court (TSE) resolution, establishing that parties must submit their first-round expenses within 30 days of the election and within 20 days if there is a second round.

In practice, this means that part of the funding sources for election expenses, namely those coming from political parties, could be bypassed by the Electoral Court until June of the year following the election.

This would also make it more difficult for candidates to be charged by the courts for irregularities during the campaign, which could be submitted within 15 days of the candidate’s taking office.

Source: G1