Invalid Forms Supporting Bolsonaro’s New Party Exceed Those Approved

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In the registration phase for the creation of the Alliance for Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro’s new political party, at the TSE (Superior Electoral Court), the greatest obstacle has been the rejection of signatures, because supporters are already registered as affiliated to another party.

On Wednesday, March 4th, Brazil’s Supreme Court (STF) declared constitutional the provision in the 2015 amendment to the Electoral Code that demands that signers of petitions to found a new party must be registered voters, who are not formally affiliated with any other party.

Data from the TSE collected by Folha newspaper show that non-compliance with this provision is the reason 76.8 percent of supporters have been found invalid by the court by Monday, March 2nd.

According to the Electoral Court, the number of invalid signatures (13,977) exceeds that of confirmed ones (5,499). There are still approximately 54,000 forms being scrutinized by the electoral registrars, during which there may be objections and corrections.

Under current rules, a new party must obtain signatures of around 500,000 registered voters in support of its creation.