Electoral Public Ministry sues TSE against candidates for irregularities in digital advertising

The Electoral Public Prosecutor's Office filed lawsuits with the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) against presidential and vice presidential candidates for alleged irregularities in electoral advertising on the internet. Among the targets are Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and Flávio Bolsonaro (PL).

According to the Electoral MP, the campaigns used websites, profiles and other digital channels that had not been previously informed to the Electoral Court, as required by law.

The deputy electoral attorney general, Alexandre Espinosa, asked for fines ranging from R$5,000 to R$30,000 or up to double the amount spent on advertising.

Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro occupy the first two positions in the Datafolha survey released this Thursday (1st), three days before the election.

Lula appears with 42% of voting intentions in the first round, and Flávio, with 38%. As the margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points, both are at the limit of the margin of error.

The survey, commissioned by TV Globo and Folha de S.Paulo, interviewed 2,506 people aged 16 or over between September 29th and October 1st. The confidence level is 95%.

In addition to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro, the representations cite candidates from DC, PRTB, PCO, Democrat, Missão, PSTU, UP, PCB and Novo.

The Elections Law determines that electronic addresses used for advertising are communicated to the Electoral Court. The rule allows you to identify which channels officially belong to campaigns and monitor the content published on them.

A TSE resolution establishes how this communication should be made. Channels that already existed before the campaign must be informed in the candidacy registration or in the regularity document for party acts. If a new channel is created during the campaign, the Electoral Court must be notified within 24 hours.

In the opinion of the Electoral MP, informing these addresses gives transparency to the propaganda and allows the Electoral Court and other participants in the election to monitor the content published. This also allows for requests for the removal of irregular material and the right to reply. According to the agency, omitting a channel used during the campaign makes this inspection difficult.

The representations presented by the Electoral MP point out alleged irregularities in the campaigns of: Clariana Barão (DC); Flávio Bolsonaro (PL); Leonardo Avalanche (PRTB); Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT); Rui Costa Pimenta (PCO); Wilson Grassi (Democrat); Renan Santos and Colonel Medina (Mission); Hertz Dias and Vanessa Portugal (PSTU); Raquel Bricio and Samara Martins (UP); Edmilson Costa and Cleusa dos Santos (PCB); Antonio Carlos (PCO); Eduardo Girão (New).

The actions were presented to the TSE, which must decide whether there was an irregularity and whether the fines requested by the Public Ministry will be applied.