'We trust in Justice', says Douglas Ruas about the majority of votes in the TSE to annul Garotinho's votes
This Thursday morning (8), the majority of ministers voted to annul Garotinho's votes. With the totalization of votes, Douglas Ruas will be elected in the first round as Governor.
By TV Globo and g1 Rio
The majority of the TSE voted this Thursday (8) to cancel Anthony Garotinho's votes. With the retotalization, Douglas Ruas will be elected governor of RJ in the 1st round.
Candidate Douglas Ruas stated that he trusts the justice system. "We have to wait for the final decision," declared the state deputy about the trial.
In the original count, Ruas had 49.27% of the votes, Eduardo Paes obtained 42.76% and Garotinho totaled 3.17%. The initial scenario indicated the dispute of a 2nd round.
With the exclusion of Garotinho, the total number of valid votes fell to 8,394,627. With this, Douglas Ruas' percentage rose to 50.88% of the votes.
The PL candidate maintained his original 4,271,199 votes. With the recalculation, he was exactly 73,885 votes above the minimum necessary to win in the 1st round.
Candidate Douglas (PL), who is running for government of the State of Rio, said in Brasília that he trusts the Electoral Court to make the best decision regarding the votes of Anthony Garotinho (Republicans).
This Thursday morning (8), the majority of ministers voted to annul Garotinho's votes. With the totalization of votes, Douglas Ruas will be elected in the first round as Governor.
"We have to wait for the final decision. We trust in the courts, we are sure that they will make the best decision in accordance with the legal system in force in our country", said Ruas.
The rapporteur, Floriano de Azevedo, André Mendonça, Estela Aranha and Dias Toffoli and Kassio Nunes Marques voted in favor of the understanding.
Who is Douglas Ruas, elected governor of Rio after voting in the TSE
State deputy Douglas Ruas (PL) is expected to receive around 74 thousand votes above the minimum necessary to win the election for the government of RJ in the 1st round.
According to the calculations made based on the counting numbers, Ruas now had 50.88% of the valid votes.
The 74 thousand votes do not represent the difference between Ruas and Eduardo Paes (PSD), 2nd place. The PL candidate's advantage over his opponent was 564,215 votes — which did not change with Garotinho's exclusion from the election. The number corresponds to the number of votes that Ruas received above the minimum necessary to win in the 1st round, after Garotinho's votes were withdrawn.
Understand what changed in the election
In the original count, with 100% of the ballot boxes counted, Douglas Ruas received 4,271,199 votes, equivalent to 49.27% of the valid votes initially considered.
Eduardo Paes had 3,706,984 (42.76%), while Anthony Garotinho received 274,411 (3.17%).
As Ruas had not reached more than half of the valid votes, the dispute initially pointed to the 2nd round between the PL and PSD candidates.
The situation changed with the TSE's judgment, which maintained the rejection of Garotinho's candidacy and determined the exclusion of the votes he received.
This does not mean that Garotinho's votes were transferred to Ruas or any other candidate: in practice, Ruas and Paes will continue with exactly the same number of votes.
The difference will be in the total number of valid votes, which will become smaller with the removal of the former governor's 274,411 votes. As a result, the percentage of Streets increased and exceeded 50%.
Why are 74 thousand votes enough?
To win a majority election in the 1st round, a candidate must receive more than half of the votes, not counting blank and null votes. The rule is popularly known as “50% + 1”.
With the exclusion of Garotinho's votes, the new universe considered in the calculation is 8,394,627 valid votes.
To find out how many votes are needed to win in the 1st round, simply divide this total in half — the result is 4,197,313.5 votes.
As there is no “half vote”, the absolute majority is reached with the 1st whole number above that half: 4,197,314 votes.
Douglas Ruas received 4,271,199 votes. Therefore, he had exactly 73,885 more than the minimum necessary to win in the 1st round.
