The campaign of the former Operation Lava Jato prosecutor was marked by disputes in the Electoral Court. Since September 19, a Court injunction prohibited him from holding public campaign events, broadcasting propaganda on radio and TV and from using public resources from the Party Fund or the Electoral Fund.
Minister Floriano de Azevedo Marques, of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), rejected Deltan Dallagnol's candidacy for the Senate in Paraná, on Saturday (3). This Sunday (4), the president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), minister Kassio Nunes Marques, suspended the decision and maintained the candidacy.
As a result, the current status of Dallagnol's registration is considered “approved with appeal” by the Electoral Court. The votes given to the ticket were processed and await the final decision, which will be taken by the TSE plenary.
If the decision is made that Dallagnol is ineligible, Paraná may have to hold new elections for the Senate. Understand below.
The current discussion of the case revolves around the TSE's 2023 decision, which revoked Dallagnol's candidacy registration, at the time at Podemos. The conviction resulted in the loss of his mandate as a federal deputy. Read more about the conviction below.
Now, in the 2026 elections, Dallagnol has requested a new candidacy registration to run for the Senate in Paraná. On September 8, the Regional Electoral Court of Paraná (TRE-PR) authorized the candidacy by 4 votes to 3. The decision, however, was questioned by the TSE.
While this appeal is not judged, the TSE plenary decided, on September 21, to maintain the injunction granted in an individual decision by Minister Floriano de Azevedo Marques, which suspended Dallagnol's campaign activities. The result of the trial was 5 to 2.
On Friday (2), the Electoral Attorney General's Office expressed its support for maintaining the candidacy. On Saturday (3), however, minister Floriano de Azevedo Marques published a new individual decision rejecting Dallagnol's registration. The decision determined that the votes given to the ticket were considered null. Hours later, the decision was suspended by the president of the TSE, Nunes Marques, on the day of the vote.
This does not mean that the TSE has definitively decided that Dallagnol is eligible, as the court's plenary must still judge the case.
With Nunes Marques' decision, the registration returns to the status of “approved with appeal” and the votes are processed, but their validity depends on the final decision.
If Dallagnol is declared ineligible, the entire list is prevented from taking office, that is, his substitutes will not take the position. In this scenario, the state may have to hold new elections for the Senate.
Dallagnol ran for federal deputy in the 2022 elections. At the time, the TRE of Paraná approved the candidacy registration. There was an appeal to the TSE. As he did not have a definitive decision, he participated in the election and took office. When the case was judged by the Superior Court, the candidacy registration was revoked. Consequently, Dallagnol lost his position.
At the time of the impeachment, the case's rapporteur, Minister Benedito Gonçalves, understood that Dallagnol committed fraud against the Clean Record Law by requesting dismissal from the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) 11 months before the elections, while facing internal processes within the institution. These internal processes investigated the conduct of the then Operation Lava Jato prosecutor and could lead to his dismissal. Expulsion from the body would result in Dallagnol's ineligibility, under the Clean Record law.
However, the Ineligibility Law determines that a public servant who leaves the Judiciary or the Public Ministry to escape punishment will be ineligible for eight years. And it was in this case that the ministers of the Superior Electoral Court understood that Dallagnol's case fit. The case was processed by the TSE, which unanimously decided to convict Dallagnol. The case became final, meaning all appeals were exhausted.
