Minister Carlos Horbach, from the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), decided today (19) to determine the suspension of transfers of funds for the campaign of candidate for the Presidency of the Republic Roberto Jefferson (PTB). 
The measure was taken at the request of the Electoral Public Ministry (MPE), which challenged the candidacy of Jefferson. According to the agency, the candidate is ineligible until December 24, 2023 due to the conviction in Criminal Action 470, the monthly allowance process, and cannot contest this year’s elections. Under the Clean Record Law, ineligibility is eight years after serving the sentence.
When analyzing the issue, the minister understood that the Christmas pardon granted in 2016, which extinguished Jefferson’s sentence, does not reach the ineligibility resulting from the conviction.
Thus, Horbach precautionarily suspended the transfer of public resources from the Special Fund for Campaign Financing and from the Party Fund to the candidate.
“Allied to the verification of the probability of the right, as explained above, I understand that, in this case, there is also the danger of damage in relation to the release of funds of a public nature to subsidize a candidacy that, immediately, reveals itself to be tainted in a very probable ineligibility”, decided the minister.
The final decision on the validity of the registration of the candidacy will be taken by the minister after Jefferson and the PTB present a defense on the challenge made by the MPF. Until the trial, the candidate’s name remains in the system DisclosesCandAccountswhich brings together the records of the 12 presidential candidates.
