Cave rejects Flávio's request to restrict the action of unions and students

The Attorney General of the Electoral Court, Minister Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva, gave 72 hours for Flávio Bolsonaro's (PL) campaign to detail the accusations made against leaders of unions, student organizations, and social movements in an action that points to the alleged use of these structures in favor of the presidential re-election candidacy of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). In the decision, Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva also denied, for now, a series of urgent measures requested by Flávio Nantes Bolsonaro's campaign. These measures include requests to restrict the use of the entities' structures, prevent the transfer of resources, and determine the preservation of data and documents. The request to apply fines was prejudiced. When analyzing the list of leaders pointed out in the action, Cueva stated that holding a leadership position does not automatically mean being responsible for any electoral abuse committed by an entity. According to the decision, of the 54 leaders presented by the campaign, 37 are not named in the narrative of the facts or the legal basis. Other seven appear only as signatories to a note from the union bodies. The action was presented by Flávio against Lula, the vice-president Geraldo Alckmin, and leaders of union bodies, confederations, federations, unions, student entities, and social movements. The campaign accuses those involved of abuse of economic and political power and improper use of the means of social communication. However, the receipt of the action does not mean that the court has considered the accusations true or recognized the existence of irregularities. The minister himself noted in the decision that these issues still depend on the production of evidence. Lula and Flávio are disputing the second round of the presidential election, scheduled for October 25th. Minister Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva, Attorney General of the Electoral Court—Photo: Luiz Roberto/TSE Campaign must detail accusations The Attorney General determined that Flávio's campaign must individually inform which facts it attributes to each of the other leaders cited in the action. For each person, the campaign must point out the attributed fact, the corresponding date, the evidence, and explain how the act contributed to the alleged abuse. If this is not done within the 72-hour period, the action may be rejected regarding the leaders whose conduct is not individualized. Until a new decision, these leaders should not be notified to present a defense, even if their names already appear in the process registration. The minister decided, however, to receive the action against Lula and Alckmin and five leaders for whom he considered there were delimited conduct in the petition. They will have five days to present a defense. Cueva rejects broad prohibition against entities Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva denied Flávio Nantes Bolsonaro's campaign request to prohibit leaders, until October 25th, from using the headquarters, employees, vehicles, financial resources, websites, institutional profiles, newspapers, messaging channels, and member registries of the entities for propaganda favorable to Lula and Alckmin, or contrary to the PL candidate. According to the Attorney General, the request would result in a generic order about future and still unknown manifestations. The minister stated that it is necessary to analyze individually the content, the circumstances, and the means used to determine if a manifestation constitutes irregular electoral propaganda. In the minister's assessment, a restriction in the requested terms could have an undue inhibitory effect on freedom of expression, association, and union organization and approach prior censorship. At the same time, he stressed that the denial does not authorize irregular propaganda nor prevent the investigation of any abusive use of institutional structures. Request involving student entities is also rejected The Attorney General also denied the order requested against the National Union of Students (UNE). The campaign wanted to oblige the entity to instruct student organizations linked to it not to use academic centers and other spaces of public educational institutions to store or distribute electoral material. For Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva, there were not sufficient elements presented to demonstrate the effective use of these spaces for this purpose, nor was there individualization of the places and activities that would justify the intervention of the Justice. The decision also cites the constitutional protection of political manifestations in the university environment. Preservation of data and documents Another request denied, for now, would determine that Meta, X, and Google, responsible for YouTube, preserve data, records, metrics, and content related to the publications cited in the action, including material possibly deleted. The entities would also be obliged to keep fiscal documents, contracts, minutes, and other records related to the episodes described by the campaign. The Attorney General considered that the request did not sufficiently delimit which data and documents should be preserved, who would be responsible for keeping them, the periods covered, and the relationship of each element with the investigated facts. The denial, according to the decision, does not prevent a new analysis if a more specific request is presented. Transfer of resources Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign also requested an order to prevent union bodies, with exceptions provided in the action itself, from transferring money, goods, or services estimable in money to committees, fronts, brigades, or other structures favorable to candidacies. Cueva rejected the request at this time. In the decision, he differentiated political manifestation from eventual electoral economic contribution and stated that it is necessary to examine the concrete circumstances of each initiative. He also considered the requested order to be too broad. However, the minister stressed that the decision does not release the use of union resources in a way contrary to electoral legislation. Fines are prejudiced The campaign had also requested a fine of R$ 50 thousand per act or publication in violation by the investigated and R$ 100 thousand per hour of violation by the providers. Since the corresponding urgent measures were rejected, Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva considered the request for fines prejudiced, as there is currently no judicial obligation to be ensured by penalties. One point, however, remained pending a decision: the request to deactivate a call for "Committee for the Re-election of President Lula," which, according to the action, had been installed at the headquarters of the Union of Workers of the Rio de Janeiro Post Office (SINTECT-RJ). The minister gave 24 hours for the union to explain what the committee consists of, whether there was provision of physical structure and resources from the entity, and whether it is still functioning. Only after these clarifications or the end of the deadline will the minister analyze the request for deactivation. The Attorney General of the TSE stated that holding a leadership position is not enough to hold someone responsible for eventual electoral abuse; the minister also rejected, for now, broad orders against unions and student entities.