Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) is drafting a rule to prevent changes in candidates' self-declared race between elections.

247 - In an attempt to curb controversial practices related to candidates' self-declaration of race, the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) is proposing changes to the rules for the 2024 elections, reports the newspaper. The GlobeThe proposal aims to prevent candidates from altering their self-declaration between different elections, in order to guarantee greater transparency and authenticity in the electoral process.

The measure proposed by the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) suggests that candidates who have altered their self-declared race be summoned to clarify the change. If any error or lack of plausible justification is found, the candidates would lose access to resources allocated to Black candidates.

The proposal is part of one of the draft documents prepared by the TSE (Superior Electoral Court), which will be discussed in public hearings next week. In addition to the issue of self-declarations, topics such as the use of artificial intelligence in electoral campaigns will also be on the agenda during the discussions.

Between the 2018 and 2022 elections, a total of 1.387 candidates changed their self-declared race. The largest number of changes occurred among those who initially declared themselves white and later self-declared as mixed-race, totaling 547 cases. 

In 2020, the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) ruled that the allocation of resources to Black candidates should be proportional, starting that year. Then, in 2021, a constitutional amendment was enacted, allocating more resources from the party fund to Black and female candidates, with votes cast for members of these two groups counting twice for the purpose of calculating the allocation.