Minister André Mendonça, of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), ordered this Monday (17) that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), the governor of Bahia, Jerônimo Rodrigues (PT), and the Workers' Party (PT) remove excerpts from videos published on YouTube with explicit requests for votes made during the party's state convention in Bahia, on August 1.
Mendonça orders Lula to remove videos from the networks with explicit requests to vote at the convention
Minister André Mendonça, of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), ordered this Monday (17) that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), the governor of Bahia, Jerônimo Rodrigues (PT), and the Workers' Party (PT) remove excerpts from videos...
Also targets of the action are senator Jaques Wagner (PT) and former Minister of the Civil House Rui Costa, who were mentioned in Lula's speech. According to the representation, Lula spoke at the PT convention, at the Salvador Exhibition Park, and asked for votes for himself and the other party names in the state.
- "When you are fighting and asking for your vote, for the love of God, after talking about Jerônimo, after talking about Wagner, your deputies, remember that there is Lula there in São Paulo...
- In another excerpt, Lula said: "You have so much confidence and elected me president of the Republic three times.
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The decision partially responds to a representation by the Novo party, which sued the Electoral Court for early electoral propaganda. Also targets of the action are senator Jaques Wagner (PT) and former Minister of the Civil House Rui Costa, who were mentioned in Lula's speech.
According to the representation, Lula spoke at the PT convention, at the Salvador Exhibition Park, and asked for votes for himself and the other party names in the state.
"When you are fighting and asking for your vote, for the love of God, after talking about Jerônimo, after talking about Wagner, your deputies, remember that there is Lula there in São Paulo waiting for a vote from you so he can become president of the Republic", says one of Lula's phrases cited in the action.
In another excerpt, Lula said: "You have so much confidence and elected me president of the Republic three times. And I'm asking you not to get tired of voting. Elect me for the fourth time so we can make this country definitely work."
Lula also asked for votes for Rui Costa and Jaques Wagner, who are running for the Federal Senate. "I need two votes. For this Galician and this fellow here," he stated, according to the representation.
In his decision, Mendonça rejected the argument that the speeches were protected because they were given in an intra-party environment. According to the minister, electoral legislation authorizes the holding of conventions and the presentation of candidacies, but does not make an exception for explicit requests for a vote.
The minister also cited a precedent from the TSE itself that classified as advance propaganda expressions "semantically equivalent" to the direct request for a vote, even without the literal use of the verbs "vote" or "elect".
Mendonça ordered Lula, Jerônimo and the PT to edit or remove, within 24 hours, the videos published on their YouTube channels. If partial editing is technically unfeasible, the videos must be removed entirely. The platform was also notified to take action.
The minister denied, however, Novo's request for the complete removal of the publications and for the removal of "any content" that reproduces the speeches, considering the measure disproportionate and generic.
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