Mendonça will accompany the rapporteur and vote in favor of impeaching Governor Roraima. The trial will be suspended after the request for review is filed.

Immediately after the vote, Minister Nunez Marquez called for a reconsideration, suspending a court case analyzing accusations of abuse of political and economic power in the 2022 elections. As a result, Governor Roraima received two unfavorable votes.

The trial was suspended in August, but resumed after the minister requested an opinion. At the time, Minister Isabel Galotti, the rapporteur for this action, voted to remove the governor and vice president, in addition to holding new elections in the state.

During his vote this Tuesday, Mendonça acknowledged that two of the four charges cited by the Ministry of Public Elections (MPE) are characterized by abuse of political and economic power. The reporter agreed with all of the prosecution’s arguments.

In addition to transferring resources to local governments during the shutdown and distorting the agency’s advertising for personal promotion, Denarium is accused of exploiting two social programs focused on food and housing in elections. He was convicted by the state TRE and the case went to the TSE on appeal.

For Mendonça, the conduct involved in creating a political program is “sufficiently serious to warrant the sanctions associated with admitting abusive behavior.”

— Regarding the quantitative aspects, more than 40,000 households have been covered and benefited from the “Family Basket” program and about 1,800 beneficiaries have been covered and benefited from the “Moral Melhole” program, but given that each served household tends to contain not just one but several voters, and these numbers affect even more voters, he pointed out.

Still, Minister Andres Mendonça said the two actions taken by the governor and deputy governor were “undeniably reprehensible.”

“This is because it aims to undermine the integrity and legitimacy of elections, especially the equality of opportunity between competitors, by exploiting extreme poverty by taking what is most important in the basic survival of the people: food and housing,” he said.

The governor’s defense denies any wrongdoing and maintains that the transfer followed the law and was not electoral in nature. The politician will remain in office until the TSE completes its analysis of the appeal.

Mr. Denarium and Mr. Damien were canceled by TRE-RR in the analysis of the Judicial Election Investigation Litigation (Aije) filed by the Roraima-Haruka-Better Coalition. They were found guilty of using the social programs Cesta da Familia and Moral Melhor in elections, as well as using the public sector to carry out acts prohibited for civil servants during elections in order to gain political advantage in conflicts.

In a written opinion sent to the Tokyo Stock Exchange in June, the Election Legal Affairs Bureau pointed out the illegal conduct and defended the governor’s impeachment and eight-year suspension. The two opinions attached to this process indicate that the social programs “Cesta da Família” and “Morar Melhor” were established in an election year for electoral purposes, which are prohibited by law.

The Ministry of Public Affairs also considers that there was an abuse of economic and political power in the voluntary transfer of resources to municipalities that was disproportionate to the previous year’s budget, and that organized advertising was used to promote re-election campaigns.