The complaints of electoral harassment made to the MPT (Ministério Público do Trabalho) jumped after the first round of elections and went from 45 to 334 (an increase of more than seven times). The survey was carried out on Monday (17) by the agency.
Even two weeks before the second round of the elections, the number of reports is already greater than that recorded in the entire 2018 election campaign. 396 of 2022, to date.
The data collected by the MPT confirm the assessment made by trade unionists and the command of the campaign of ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) that the episodes exploded after the first round of the elections.
The MPT in Minas Gerais, for example, had not received any case of electoral harassment until the first round of elections. Until this Monday, however, the agency had already recorded 60 episodes after October 2 – another 10 are under secrecy, totaling 70 in the state.
In Santa Catarina, there were 6 episodes of electoral harassment before the first round. Now, the number has reached 42. In Rio Grande do Sul, the situation is similar: 5 complaints until October 2nd and 51 until this Monday.
Dozens of reports of threats at work and promises of benefits have been shared on social media or taken directly to authorities. Faced with the increase, the union centrals created a website to receive information from workers, including anonymously.
Until Sunday (16), the centrals had received 75 reports of electoral harassment at work and 4 in religious environments. The report with a summary of each complaint was delivered to the president of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court), Minister Alexandre de Moraes, this Monday.
The topic will also be discussed by Lula’s campaign with the Labor Attorney General this Tuesday (17th). Last week, PT members raised concerns among some authorities during the inauguration ceremony of the new president of the TST (Superior Labor Court), Lelio Bentes Corrêa.
Moraes will meet this Tuesday with the MPT and the Electoral Public Ministry. One of the expectations is that there may be some mechanism to facilitate the sharing of information, since the crime can be punished in the labor and criminal spheres.
Episodes of electoral harassment range from the offer of R$200 to each employee if President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) wins the elections, to communications to suppliers anticipating a cut in business in the opposite scenario.
The Public Ministry of Labor claims that the complaints system only divides the type of harassment between moral and sexual, and that, therefore, it has had difficulties to follow the total number of records in real time.
Partial surveys, however, already showed that complaints have increased daily. Until last Tuesday (11), there were 197 cases. On Thursday (13), the number increased to 242 and, on Friday (14), to 364. This Monday, the total reached 396 —45 until the first round, 289 after and 62 secret.
“It’s not even a perception, it’s a fact. There was an increase in news to the Public Ministry of Labor, in several ways, after the first round. The Sheet the Attorney General of Labour, José de Lima Ramos Pereira, on Friday.
Ramos Pereira stated that one of the difficulties faced by the MPT is the production of evidence. Therefore, it is important that the employee tries to register the situation of electoral harassment.
“When you make an anonymous report that someone from a certain company did a certain act embarrassing their employees, in groups or individually, you have to prove it. What is the best evidence today? Filming. Which is allowed, because when you film something what is happening to you, is a legitimate proof,” he explained.
Another concern of the MPT — shared by the PT campaign — is with the so-called “embarrassment” situations: when the employer makes it difficult or prevents the employee from leaving work to vote. The case does not fall under electoral harassment, but can also be punished in the labor sphere.
“Every company is obliged to release workers on election day so that they can exercise their right to vote, even without compensation for hours. If the worker has 8 hours of work, you have to release him at some point during this period”, said the Attorney General for Labor.
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