TSE resumes trial that could revoke the mandate of governor of Roraima

Minister Cármen Lúcia, president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), scheduled for this Tuesday the trial of the process that could lead to the impeachment of the governor of Roraima, Antonio Denarium (PP), and vice Edilson Damião (Republicans), for abuse of political and economic power in the 2022 elections. The action was released for analysis on the 5th by minister André Mendonça, who in August had requested a review and stopped the deliberation.

The case is the fourth item on the TSE’s judgment agenda, but the court’s expectation is that the case will be considered and that Mendonça will give his vote. The assessment, according to the Court’s interlocutors, is that the conclusion of the minister’s vote is in favor of Denarium’s impeachment. As a result, the governor would have two unfavorable votes.

In August, when the trial began, the action’s rapporteur, minister Isabel Gallotti, voted to remove the governor and deputy for abuse of political and economic power. She also ordered new elections in the state.

Denarium is accused of electoral use of two social programs focused on food and housing, in addition to transferring resources to municipalities during closed periods and distorting institutional advertising for personal promotion. He was convicted by the state’s TRE, and the case reached the TSE after the appeal.

The governor’s defense denies irregularities in the programs and argues that the voluntary transfer of resources to the municipalities followed the law and was not electoral in nature.

In an opinion sent to the TSE in June 2024, the Electoral Attorney General’s Office defended the governor’s impeachment with the imposition of eight years of ineligibility. In the statement, the Public Ministry states that illegal acts were committed.

“Electoral actions proposed by different parties regarding the same fact can be brought together for joint judgment as long as there is no prejudice, which is the present case. It should also be added that the determination of a meeting for joint judgment of processes with identical requests and causes of action aims to speed up electoral actions and give effect to the principle of reasonable duration of the process, being a beneficial measure for the parties and for the judicial provision”, suggested the prosecutor’s office.

Two opinions already attached to the process indicate that the social programs “Cesta da Família” and “Morar Melhor” were established in an election year with electoral purposes, a measure prohibited by legislation.

The Public Ministry also considers that there was an abuse of economic and political power in the voluntary transfer of resources to municipalities in the state that was disproportionate to the budget of previous years and that institutional advertising was focused on the re-election campaign.