The Senate’s Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) approved, this Wednesday (14), in Brasília, the so-called Amnesty PEC (9/2023). It reduces the mandatory funds that parties must transfer to black and brown candidates and transfers to the next elections the resources not spent on racial quotas in previous elections, in addition to allowing a renegotiation of the parties’ tax debts.
The vote was held symbolically, meaning that members of parliament do not need to register their vote on the electronic panel. The matter was also approved as urgent. It will now be analyzed in the Senate plenary, having already been approved in the Chamber of Deputies. Since it is a Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC), it does not require presidential sanction.
If approved, the PEC could reduce funding for black and brown candidates, since the current rule determines that spending must be proportional to the number of white or black candidates, as defined in 2020 by the Federal Supreme Court (STF).
In other words, if 50% of a party’s candidates are black, the resources for these candidates must also be 50% of the total. With this PEC, the mandatory resources for black candidates will be 30%.
“In 2020, campaign resources would have to have a proportional share of the candidacies. This was done at the last minute, and the parties had difficulty complying with this determination. [do STF]”, justified the rapporteur of the matter, Senator Marcelo Castro (MDB/PI).
The parliamentarian also criticized the nickname given by the press to the Amnesty PEC proposal, stating that parties that did not comply with racial quotas in previous elections will not have their fines forgiven, but will have to compensate the amount in the next four elections.
“We are giving the parties a chance to divide what they did not spend from the percentage into four elections,” explained the rapporteur.
Renegotiation
The PEC also allows for the renegotiation of political parties’ tax debts. Rapporteur Marcelo Castro argued that the Constitution guarantees tax immunity to political parties. “Unfortunately, the IRS has exceeded its limits, has imposed sanctions on political parties and many have found themselves in debt,” he highlighted.
With the approved proposal, parties will be able to pay their tax debts in up to 180 months and their social security debts in up to 60 months, with the fines and accumulated interest waived. The PEC also eliminates the need for the candidate to provide the party with a receipt for the funds received.
“All this money today is bank money, it is accounting money that leaves a trail of where it came from. It came from the Electoral Fund to a specific candidate, there is no need for a receipt. It has already been proven, in practice, that the money was transferred,” he explained.
