José Roberto Arruda in an interview on TV Globo — Photo: TV Globo
Rapporteur of the case at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), minister Dias Toffoli voted to invalidate José Roberto Arruda's candidacy for government of the Federal District in the 2026 elections. The other ministers must still vote.
"The solution to this case, in my opinion, does not require this Court to resolve, definitively, all the hermeneutical [interpretation] controversies that arose from the enactment of Complementary Law 219/2025. It is enough to check whether, regardless of the interpretation adopted, the collegiate conviction remains capable of attracting the cause of envisaged ineligibility. And the answer, in my opinion, is positive", stated Toffoli.
Still according to the minister's vote, Arruda must end the campaign and access to the electoral fund. If the vote wins, the candidacy is not even "sub judice" – although it appears in the ballot boxes, which are already being sealed.
Arruda is trying to reverse the decision of the Regional Electoral Court of the Federal District (TRE-DF), which unanimously ruled that he is not eligible (see details below).
Arruda's defense was carried out, at trial, by lawyers Francisco Emerenciano and José Eduardo Cardozo.
"You cannot give an amplifying effect to the extinction of rights in this Court. It's that old maxim: when in doubt, let democracy prevail. I have no doubt, I think there is a mistake in the thesis espoused by the Regional Court. But if Your Excellencies are in doubt, let democracy apply. Let the vote decide, in the last instance, because that is how it is done in democratic regimes", stated Cardozo.
This Wednesday (23), for the first time since the beginning of the current electoral race, the Quaest Survey showed Arruda in third place in the dispute for the government of DF, behind Leandro Grass and Celina Leão, who leads the voting intention.
In the scenario with all candidates, Arruda appears with 17%, against 21% for Grass and 33% for Celina.
The trial
During the session, deputy electoral attorney general Alexandre Espinosa Bravo Barbosa highlighted that Arruda has seven convictions for intentional acts of administrative improbity, all with recognition of injury to the treasury and illicit enrichment.
Espinosa stated that electoral legislation cannot be retroactive – that is, it would not be possible to use the new version of the Clean Record Law, from 2025, to calculate the ineligibility generated by the 2014 conviction.
"There is no way to apply complementary law 219/2025 to a case whose conviction was definitively exhausted in July 2022, but three years before it came into force", he stated.
On Tuesday (22), the Public Electoral Ministry reaffirmed to the TSE the understanding that Arruda continues to be prevented from running for office based on the Clean Record Law. In addition to the MP, the candidate for district deputy Cláudio Ferreira Domingues (DEM) also contested the candidacy.
🔎 To challenge is the act of presenting opposition or contesting something. In other words, challenging the registration of a candidacy is a way of trying to prevent a certain person from being a candidate or candidate because they do not meet the required conditions. The decision is up to the Electoral Court.
Impediment was unanimous in TRE-DF
Rapporteur of the process, electoral judge Guilherme Pupe voted to reject (deny) Arruda's candidacy.
The judges accompanied the rapporteur André Puppin, Asiel Henrique de Sousa, Leonor Aguena and João Egmont.
Judge Néviton Guedes declared himself a suspect, having judged cases involving the Pandora's Box operation at the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region.
➡️Pupe spoke for 50 minutes and, among several arguments, assessed that Arruda's seven convictions for administrative misconduct are not all connected.
➡️And, therefore, it would not be possible to unify all ineligibility from the first conviction, in July 2014.
➡️With this, the count should start with the second conviction, in 2018; or in the most recent one, from June 2026. In either case, according to the rapporteur, the count would prevent candidacy in this year's elections.
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