Abstract
Democracy presupposes accepting the outcome of a clean and free electoral process as an underlying premise for its existence and operation. In order to meet this objective, the possibility of contesting fraudulent procedures and results must be granted and ensured. Still, if the losing side contests every electoral process or outcome by strategically resorting to the courts even in the absence of any signs of irregularities, this could lead to growing instability and ultimately render the democratic game unfeasible. Therefore, there is a thin line between legitimacy and illegitimacy when it refers to the judicialization of electoral processes. The judicialization of electoral processes, defined as the use of judicial institutions to question the electoral process and outcomes, is located at the grey fringes of democracy, where the boundaries between legitimacy and illegitimacy are blurred.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
The Mensalão scandal (literally, “big monthly allowance”) broke out in 2005 and involves the purchase of political support from congressmen by the Brazilian government. The scandal known as Lava Jato (literally, “Car Wash”), first revealed in 2014, concerns a corruption scheme at Petrobras, a Brazilian state-owned oil company. The scandal of JBS, a large Brazilian company in the animal protein processing industry, surfaced in 2017, and refers to the corruption of several politicians and public officials to favor the company's interests.
- 2.
- 3.
All date formats in DD/MM/YYYY.
- 4.
We sent similar requests to all 27 TREs asking for the court litigations originating from these agencies and the electoral zones of their respective states or the Federal District. We compared the information sent by the TREs with the information sent by the TSE. In some cases, some litigations identified by the TREs were not listed on the TSE. We included these litigations in our search. Due to obvious logistical difficulties, we did not ask the TSE and TREs for older litigations, on paper. We also asked the TSE for the same information regarding litigations available for query in the Electronic Judicial Process, the PJe, a different system gradually adopted by the Brazilian electoral court, especially since 2017. However, access to the PJe requires a captcha response, which makes it difficult to automatically scrape information with the help of bots. The database with the PJe litigations is under construction and the material will be analyzed in later stages of our research.
- 5.
See appendixes II, III, and IV in Resolution TSE N. 23.184/2009.
- 6.
Resolution TSE N. 23.184/2009, article 9, item X.
- 7.
- 8.
Article 26 lists the electoral expenditures established by Law No. 9.504/1997.
- 9.
Therefore, litigations classified as “corruption or fraud” may sometimes include situations that do not refer to electoral corruption or "slush funds", but to certain types of fraud in which the relationship between money and politics is not as explicit. To make this distinction, the project team is currently analyzing the content of the litigations.
- 10.
These classes are listed in appendix VI of TSE Resolution No. 23.184/2009, which specifies them for the TSE, TREs, and electoral courts.
- 11.
We reiterate, however, that litigations catalogued as “corruption or fraud” may refer to certain types of fraud that have no direct connection with the relationship between money and politics, such as, for example, voter registration fraud or fraud in the gender quota for candidacies, among other subjects. We are currently analyzing the content of each “corruption or fraud” litigation to identify those that actually deal with electoral corruption or the type of fraud of our interest – accounting records fraud, also known as “slush fund".
- 12.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2020 municipal elections took place, exceptionally, on November 15. When necessary, cities held a second round on November 29.
- 13.
Runoff elections are possible for president, state governors, and mayors in cities with over 200 thousand voters. The second round occurs when no candidate amasses over half of the valid votes in the first round. The two leading candidates from the first round continue to the second round.
- 14.
Candidates who do not run in the second round must submit the final accounting records of the campaigns by the thirtieth day after the first round. In case of a second round, candidates must submit the final accounting records of both rounds by the thirtieth day after the second round of elections.
- 15.
The Federal Senate of Brazil has 81 seats. Elections are held every four years, for one third or two thirds of the seats in the House, respectively.
- 16.
References
Agra, W. de M. (2013). Postulados teóricos para a diferenciação entre abuso de poder econômico e captação ilícita de sufrágio. Estudos Eleitorais, 8(1), 81–102.
Barboza, D. P. (2015). As denúncias de compra de votos como estratégia eleitoral. Análise da relação entre denúncias de compra de votos e a dinâmica de competição eleitoral nas eleições municipais de 2012 em São Paulo. [Master’s thesis in Political Science. Universidade de São Paulo].
Barcelos, G. R. C. (2015). “O artigo 30-A, §2°, da lei nº 9.504/97: uma análise à luz da proporcionalidade”. Revista Ballot, 1(1), 236–248.
Couto, C., & Oliveria, V. E. (2019). Politização da Justiça: atores judiciais têm agendas próprias? Cadernos Adenauer, XX(1).
Ferejohn, J. (2002). Judicializing politics, politicizing Law. Law and Contemporary Problems, 61, 41–68.
Ginsburg, T. (2003). Judicial review in new democracies: Constitutional courts in Asian Cases. Cambridge University Press.
Ginsburg, T. (2007). The global spread of judicial review. In K. Wittington & Daniel Keleman (Eds.), Oxford handbook of law and politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hirschl, R. (2004). Towards juristocracy: The origins and consequences of the new constitutionalism. Harvard University Press.
Hirschl, R. (2008). The judicialization of mega-politics and the rise of political courts. The Annual Review of Political Science, 11, 93–118.
Hirschl, R. (2011). The judicialization of politics. In R. E. Goodin (Ed.) The oxford handbook of political science. [s.l.]: Oxford University Press.
Marchetti, V. (2013). Justiça e Competição Eleitoral. São Paulo: Editora UFABC.
Marchetti, V., & Cortez, R. (2009). A judicialização da competição política: o TSE e as coligações eleitorais. Opinião Pública, 15(2), 422–450.
Mozaffa, R., & Shaheen e schedler, A. (2002). The comparative study of electoral governance - introduction. International Political Science Review, 23(1), 5–27.
Nogueira, A. J. A. (2019). A judicialização da competição eleitoral municipal no Brasil: uma análise da relação entre a Lei da Ficha Limpa e as eleições suplementares de 2004 a 2016. Revista de Estudos Empíricos em Direito, 6(1), 84–107.
Paranhos, R., Nascimento, W., Dias, A. C. A., Carvalho, R. B., & Gomes Neto, J. M. (2014). O que é que a judicialização eleitoral tem? Cadernos Adenauer, XV.
Pozzobon, P. H. (2009). O Supremo Tribunal Federal e a Judicialização da Política no Brasil. Revista da Faculdade de Direito UniRitter, 10, 97–118.
Ribeiro, L. M., Arguelhes, D. W. (2019). Contextos da judicialização da política: novos elementos para um mapa teórico. Revista Direito GV, [S.l.], 15(2), e1921, set.
Salgado, E. D. (2009). A influência do poder econômico nas eleições e a impugnação de mandato. Estudos Eleitorais, 4(Número Especial), 43–56.
Shapiro, M., & Stone-Sweet, A. (1994). The new constitutional politics of Europe. Comparative Political Studies, 26, 397–420.
Silva, M. C. da. (2016). Aos amigos tudo, aos inimigos a lei: disputas eleitorais e judicialização da política no estado do Rio de Janeiro (1988–2016). [Doctoral dissertation in political sociology. Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense].
Silva, S. A. da. (2018). Relação entre abuso de poder econômico e despesa de campanha nos municípios brasileiros (2012–2016). [Master’s thesis in political science. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais].
Tate, C. N., & Vallinder, T. (1995). The global expansion of judicial power. In C. N. Tate & T. Vallinder (Eds.), The global expansion of judicial power (pp. 1–10). New York: New York University Press.
Zalamena, J. C. M. (2013). Judicialização, competição política local e eleições municipais no Rio Grande do Sul. [Master’s thesis in political science. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul].
Zauli, E. M. (2011). Justiça eleitoral e judicialização das eleições no Brasil. Revista Brasileira De Estudos Políticos, 102, 255–290. https://doi.org/10.9732/133.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mancuso, W.P., de Oliveira, V.E., Speck, B.W. (2021). Money, Politics, and the Judicialization of Electoral Processes in Brazil: A Political Science Approach. In: Valarini, E., Pohlmann, M., Mitra, S. (eds) Political Corruption and Organizational Crime. Organization, Management and Crime - Organisation, Management und Kriminalität. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-34374-3_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-34374-3_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer VS, Wiesbaden
Print ISBN: 978-3-658-34373-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-658-34374-3
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)