The leader of the PT in the Chamber of Deputies, Lindbergh Farias (RJ), filed a Draft Resolution (PRC) in which he proposes changes to the current criteria for counting the presence of federal deputies in the House’s sessions, with the immediate establishment of the procedure for losing their mandate.
Lindbergh proposed changes to the current rules for losing office due to absences amid the controversy involving the federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP) who, since March of this year, has been in the United States, where he traveled without previously informing the Board of Directors of the Chamber. When he was already out of Brazil, Eduardo asked to leave his mandate for 120 days, claiming to be the target of political persecution. The deadline ended in mid-July and he did not return to the country, accumulating unexcused absences in sessions.
THE Board Act No. 191in force from June 2017, establishes that the General Secretariat of the Bureau must prepare an annual report monitoring parliamentary attendance at ordinary and extraordinary deliberative sessions and forward it to the Presidency of the House by March 5th of the following year.
For Lindbergh, this determination “created an unconstitutional tolerance, allowing cases of consummated non-attendance to remain uninvestigated for several months, even after a violation” of the Federal Constitution, which provides for the loss of office of a parliamentarian who fails to attend, without justification, more than a third of the ordinary annual sessions.
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If approved, the PRC will become a Resolution, replacing part of the text of Board Act No. 191. Farias’ proposal revokes the deadline of March 5, establishing that the General Secretariat of the Board will begin to prepare monthly monitoring reports, alerting the Presidency of the Chamber about possible risks of non-compliance with the constitutional limit of absences. The consolidated final report must be presented every December 5th, containing the indication of the deputies who have been absent from more than a third of the sessions, without justification.
The project presented by Farias determines that, once in possession of the General Secretariat’s final report, the Presidency of the House must initiate, ex officio, the procedure for declaring loss of mandate – which you should also do when you notice, at any time, that a certain parliamentarian will no longer be able to meet the constitutional deadline.
“The measure guarantees the effectiveness of the constitutional control of parliamentary attendance, reinforces the principles of morality, efficiency and economy and avoids possible damage to the treasury due to the continuation of undue payments of subsidies and benefits to parliamentarians who irreversibly fail to comply with the duty of presence”, explains the PT leader in the Chamber.
Eduardo Bolsonaro
In August, parliamentarian asked the President of the Chamber of DeputiesHugo Motta (Republicanos-PB), authorization to exercise his mandate remotely, directly from the USA, claiming that, during the covid-19 pandemic, the Chamber also authorized remote work for deputies. THE request was denied because, according to the Board of Directors’ opinion, there is only the possibility of remote registration for parliamentarians on an official mission authorized by the Chamber, which is not the case.
In September this year, the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) denounced Eduardo Bolsonaro for his work with the United States government to promote tariffs against Brazilian exports, among other retaliations, such as the suspension of visas of federal government ministers and court ministers. This Friday (14), the majority of ministers of the First Panel of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) decided to make the deputy a defendant for the crime of coercion during the process. With this, the next step will be to open criminal proceedings against Eduardo.
