The increase in complaints of electoral harassment in this year’s campaign sparked the alert that the problem should not end after the second round, said the regional electoral attorney of the Federal Public Ministry, Eduardo Morato.
Until this Friday (21), the Public Ministry of Labor (MPT) received 1,112 complaints of electoral harassment across the country. The number represents a large increase compared to the 2018 elections, when the MPT received 212 complaints.
The growth of complaints motivated the Public Ministry of Labor in Minas Gerais, the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) and the State Public Ministry of Minas Gerais (MPMG) to hold a public hearing to discuss the matter this Friday afternoon.
“I’m sure it’s going to be a permanent struggle, I don’t think it’s going to be just a matter of this election. Perhaps, even because we have seen an improvement in the electoral political system, to curb the excess of economic resources in campaign financing. I think that when you turn off the faucet on one side, you try to escape through other resources and practices with that one”, says Morato.
Some examples of this type of harassment happen when employers threaten layoffs, change the workload to prevent employees from voting, ask workers to film their choices at the ballot box, predict bankruptcies and even promise extra wages depending on the outcome of the elections.
For the prosecutor and electoral coordinator of the MPMG, Edson Castro, the large number of cases of harassment represents the strong return of a political phenomenon that already seemed to be overcome.
“I have been saying that we are back 50 years ago, when the electoral phenomenon of the halter vote was striking in Brazilian society, especially in rural areas. It is a phenomenon that was practically forgotten, but unfortunately the cases are happening in great proportion” , he says.
According to the prosecutor, the institutions are mobilized and aware of the urgency of actions in the face of harassment. Castro sees this increase in electoral harassment as a direct risk to democracy. “The most important thing is that when voters go to vote, they vote with their conscience and their perceptions, not the perceptions of others,” he says.
According to Labor Prosecutor Elaine Nassif, a major challenge for institutions is to understand and combat the reasons that led to the large increase in complaints of electoral harassment between the 2018 elections and this year.
For her, the denunciations are important so that the people who are committing these acts can see that there is an investigation and there is punishment. This can help to deter this type of crime from now on.
Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the highest number of complaints of electoral harassment. According to the MPT, until this Friday, 295 complaints were received in Minas. The second state with the highest number of cases is Paraná, with 123, followed by Santa Catarina, which recorded 113 complaints.
WHERE TO REPORT ELECTORAL HARASSMENT:
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