The Electoral Court rejected the annulment of the senatorial mandate of former judge Lava Hato Sergio Moro

The Regional Electoral Court of the Brazilian state of Paraná (TRE-PR) late Tuesday rejected two lawsuits calling for the annulment of the mandate of former Operation Lava Jato judge Sergio Moro, who was elected senator in 2022. Of the seven judges on this court, five voted to maintain Moro’s mandate and only two voted to revoke it.

In a trial that lasted several days and was accompanied by intense press coverage, Sergio Moro was accused of abuse of economic power because, during the 2022 election campaign, he spent much more on advertising than the law allows for to be elected, which according to the parties. who proposed these actions, they tilted the electoral dispute in their favor. However, the majority of judges rejected the crime, saying Moro was known around the world for his work leading the anti-corruption operation and that it was not the expenses he incurred during the election campaign that made him better known among voters.

Interestingly, the two now-overturned lawsuits were brought by the parties that characterize the most polarization in Brazil: the Liberal Party (LP) of former President Jair Bolsonaro and the Workers’ Party (PT) of current President Lula da Silva. . Unsatisfied with the defeat, the PL and PT have already announced that they will appeal to the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE), where the case will be heard again, likely towards the end of the year.

Another big name in Operation Lava Jato, prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol, also went through a process similar to the Moro court: he was tried first in TRE-PR and then in TSE, with diametrically opposed results. Dallagnol, elected as a federal deputy in 2022, was unanimously acquitted by a regional court that found no electoral crimes of which he was accused, but his mandate was revoked by the TSE a few months later.