Moraes bars PF and CADE inquiries against research institutes

The president of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court), Minister Alexandre de Moraes, decided to bar the initiation of investigations by the Federal Police and CADE (Administrative Council for Economic Defense) to investigate the performance of research institutes.

In an order signed this Thursday (13), Moraes claimed the absence of just cause and “absolute incompetence” of the bodies for an investigation of the type during the electoral period.

He also determined that the Electoral Internal Affairs Office and the Electoral Attorney General’s Office investigate “possible abuse of political power, embodied in the misuse of purpose in the use of administrative bodies with the intention of favoring a certain candidacy, in addition to the crime of abuse of authority”. .

The investigations against research institutes are part of an offensive by allies of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) triggered after the first round.

The objective, according to Bolsonaristas, is to ascertain the differences recorded in surveys by institutes and the result found at the polls.

This Thursday, Alexandre Cordeiro, president of CADE, sent a letter to the General Superintendence of the body determining the opening of an investigation against research institutes.

Cordeiro, who is linked to the Bolsonaro government’s minister of the Civil House, Ciro Nogueira, claims that the institutes may have acted as a cartel to “manipulate” the elections.

The official letter was received, however, as a conventional representation because, according to CADE technicians, the president of the body does not have the competence to impose the opening of investigations.

On another front, the Federal Police also launched an inquiry this Thursday to investigate electoral research institutes.

The investigation was requested by Bolsonaro’s Minister of Justice, Anderson Torres.

“This request meets the representation received at the MJSP [Ministério da Justiça e Segurança Pública]which pointed out ‘conducts that, in theory, characterize the practice of crimes perpetrated’ by some institutes”, said Torres on his social media when announcing, days after the election, the sending of an investigation request to the PF.

In addition to the investigations, allies in Congress work for the approval of a project that, in practice, criminalizes electoral surveys and have collected signatures for the installation of a CPI (Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry).

Alexandre de Moraes stated in the official letter that the Ministry of Justice and the presidency of CADE usurp powers of the Electoral Justice. He also saw the intention of the two bodies to “satisfy the electoral will expressed by the Chief Executive [Bolsonaro]”.

“Both determinations -MJ and Cade- are based solely on presumptions related to the non-compliance of the results of the polls with the performance of candidates portrayed in the polls, without mention of minimal indications of the formation of the subjective bond between the appointed institutes or even practices of illicit procedures”, wrote Moraes.

“Such rushed measures, in addition to the incompetence of the bodies that issued them and the flagrant usurpation of the constitutional functions of the Electoral Justice, seem to demonstrate the intention to satisfy the electoral will expressed by the Chief Executive and candidate for reelection, and may characterize, in theory, deviation of purpose and abuse of power by its underwriters.”

The inquiry requested by Cade was to investigate the Ipec, Datafolha and Ipespe institutes.

THE Sheet found that, initially, the body’s technicians did not see materiality in Cordeiro’s representation and claim that, even if there was collusion between the institutes for an alleged manipulation of results, the companies would not have committed a violation of the economic order.

Also according to them, there were no elements in the representation sent by CADE’s president that showed, in practice, the combination of a cartel, the division of the market with the agreement between them of the clients who hired the surveys. These are the elements that would justify opening an investigation.

“Cade’s role is to protect free competition. I don’t see how electoral polls can violate this principle. There is no violation of the economic order in an electoral poll,” stated Taís Gasparian, a lawyer for the Sheet.

According to her, the surveys and their dissemination are allowed, and the institutes follow the legislation when registering the surveys. “All these documents are public. In other words, there is nothing to be investigated,” she said.

In a note after the request for an investigation by the president of CADE, IPEC stated that it regretted “this initiative against research institutes, which only fulfill their role of measuring the voter’s intention to vote, based on scientific criteria and the information collected at the time the surveys are carried out”.

According to the institute, the fact that the surveys coincide “only demonstrate the adoption of statistical principles and models that support the research activity”.

IPEC also said that “its professional and business conduct is based on ethical principles” and that it “strongly repudiates actions based on theories that want to confuse and induce society to disinformation, with the clear purpose of destabilizing the progress of research activities”.

Alexandre Cordeiro was Ciro Nogueira’s chief of staff and was chosen by Bolsonaro to assume the presidency of Cade by appointment of the minister. Ciro is one of the most influential politicians in the Bolsonaro government. Since the end of the first round, he has advocated a boycott of research institutes.

The proximity of Ciro Nogueira and Alexandre Cordeiro was highlighted in the report in which the Federal Police indicted the minister of the Bolsonaro government on suspicion of corruption and money laundering, in April.

The document details a conversation recorded in 2017 between Ciro and entrepreneurs Joesley Batista and Ricardo Saud, both from J&F.

In the recording, Ciro calls Cordeiro “my boy”, says he is one of “his” in Cade and states that he could not “lose this influence” on the council.

“A common sense guy. My boy, he was my chief of staff, I put him there [no Cade]… And he managed to fit in there”, said the minister.