TRE-SP condemns three parties for gender quota fraud in August
The TRE-SP cancelled candidate registrations by the PSDB/Cidadania Federation, PRD and Mobiliza for fictitious female candidacies. Votes were annulled and candidates declared ineligible.
TRE-SP annuls registrations of three parties for fictitious female candidacies
The Regional Electoral Court of São Paulo (TRE-SP) condemned three political parties in August for gender quota fraud: the PSDB/Cidadania Federation and the PRD, both from Jaú, and Mobiliza, from Carapicuíba. According to tre-sp.jus.br, in all cases the Court ordered the cancellation of the Demonstrations of Regularity of Party Acts (Drap), the annulment of votes cast for the position of councillor, and the recalculation of the electoral and party quotients. The decisions were unanimous and there were no elected candidates in any of the three cases.
The violation identified in all proceedings is article 10, §3 of Law 9,504/1997, which requires parties to reserve at least 30% of candidacies for women.
PSDB/Cidadania Federation of Jaú: candidate with 20 years of affiliation did not vote for herself
On 18 August, the Court upheld the conviction in the Judicial Electoral Investigation Action (Aije) filed by candidate for councillor Adenilson Domingos Ormeda (PT) and by the PT of Jaú against the PSDB/Cidadania Federation of the same municipality. The complaint indicated that the federation registered the fictitious candidacy of Rita Cássia de Paula to comply with the legal requirement for female representation.
Rita conducted no campaign, submitted standardised accounts and did not vote for herself. The defence argued that the candidate herself made an error in typing her number and annulled the vote involuntarily. The rapporteur, judge Roberto Maia, rejected the argument: Rita has been affiliated with the party for 20 years, has run in three previous elections, and is the daughter of a politician of influence in the region.
"It was incumbent upon the defence, given the robust indicators of fraud indicated in the initial petition, to produce evidence of the effective conduct of campaign acts by the contested candidate that would demonstrate a genuine intention to contest the election, which was not verified in the case at hand," the rapporteur concluded. The judge upheld the conviction and Rita's ineligibility.
PRD of Jaú: death of husband invoked as justification, but date does not match
On the same date, the Court upheld the conviction of the PRD of Jaú in the Aije also filed by Adenilson Ormeda. Candidate Élida de Oliveira, in the 2024 election, conducted no campaign, registered no votes—not even her own—and submitted standardised accounts with no declared income or expenses.
The defence argued that Élida withdrew her candidacy due to depression and financial difficulties caused by her husband's death. Judge Roberto Maia rejected this argument: the spouse's death occurred in January of that year, even before the party convention that formalised the candidacy. The justification for her absence from voting—a flood at the candidate's beauty salon on the eve of the election—was also dismissed.
"The images presented to prove Élida's alleged poor state of health are not dated and were not accompanied by a medical report or other competent document," the rapporteur noted. The judge concluded that even the initial intention of Élida to run for office was not proven. The conviction and the candidate's ineligibility were upheld. The PRD's request for a penalty for bad faith litigation against Adenilson was rejected.
Mobiliza of Carapicuíba: father needed his daughter in the Drap in order to be able to run
Also on 18 August, the Court upheld the conviction of Mobiliza party of Carapicuíba. The Aije was filed by non-elected candidate for councillor Vasco da Gama Junior (PL), who identified the fictitious candidacy of Stacy Habermann Borges de Oliveira in the 2024 election. Stacy received only three votes, submitted zero accounts—recording not a single item of income or expense—and showed no effective electoral engagement.
The defence attempted to use an Instagram profile created as evidence of campaigning. The rapporteur, judge Cláudio Langroiva, rejected the argument: "the posts that make explicit reference to the election refer to the pre-campaign period or do not identify the date of the posts. Therefore, they do not prove engagement during the electoral period."
The judge further highlighted a revealing circumstance: Stacy's father, Adir Borges de Oliveira Júnior, ran for the same position of councillor, for the same party, residing at the same address. There is no record in the proceedings of any ideological disagreement or family rift between the two that would justify competing candidacies in the same electoral niche.
"In reality, the fraudulent mechanism reveals itself to be elementary: without the formal presence of the daughter in the party's Drap, the father himself could not even run, since Mobiliza party would not reach the mandatory 30 per cent gender quota required by law," the reporting judge concluded.
The judge amended the first instance judgment and upheld the action against Mobiliza. Stacy was declared ineligible for elections in the eight years following the 2024 election, under article 22, XIV of Complementary Law no. 64/1990. In relation to party official Evaldo Claudino de Almeida, the case was dismissed without resolution on the merits.
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Reference proceedings: - Jaú (PSDB/Cidadania Federation): 0600687-61.2024.6.26.0063 - Jaú (PRD): 0600688-46.2024.6.26.0063 - Carapicuíba (Mobiliza): 0600392-80.2024.6.26.0303
Source: Google News BR — São Paulo