The National Congress enacted this Tuesday (5) the Amendment to the Constitution that provides for amnesty to parties that failed to comply with the minimum quota of resources for women and blacks in past elections.
The amnesty granted to parties involves sanctions of any nature, including the return of values, fines or suspension of transfers from the party fund. When justifying the approval of the proposal, deputy Margarete Coelho (PP-PI) claimed that the parties’ action in the 2020 elections was hampered by the restrictions of the covid-19 pandemic.
“Someone who is in favor of amnesty is not speaking here. I am recognizing a period of exception, a period in which political parties were unable to apply certain legal or constitutional percentages as a result of the pandemic”, clarified the proposal’s rapporteur.
The amendment to the Constitution also provides that at least 30% of the electoral fund and the portion of the party fund related to electoral campaigns for women be allocated, respecting the proportion of candidates. The measure also applies to advertising on radio and TV, which must also respect the 30% in relation to the broadcasting time of programs for women.
The text determines that the parties apply, at least, 5% of the party fund in the creation and maintenance of programs for the promotion and diffusion of the political participation of women. According to the text, resources not used in the past can be used in the next elections.
STF
The amendment to the Constitution is an offshoot of a 2018 decision by the Federal Supreme Court (STF). On that occasion, the Court decided that the distribution of resources from the party fund destined to finance electoral campaigns aimed at female candidates must be made in the exact proportion of candidacies of both sexes, respecting the minimum threshold of 30% of female candidates.
Also with the decision, the Supreme Court defined the obligation to use 5% of the party fund for the promotion of women’s political participation is already provided for in the Law on Political Parties. Both rules were included in the Federal Constitution.
