Carolina Pimentel and Daniella Jinkings Reporters Agência Brasil

Brasilia – The Bar Association (‘Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil – OAB”) declared that it was frustrated by the Supreme Court ruling on March 22 that the Ficha Limpa law would only take effect for the 2012 elections. In practical terms, that means that politicians with legal problems who had enough votes to be elected last October in the general elections can take office. Many of them were not allowed to do so when electoral courts ruled them ineligible under the Ficha Law. Now they will unseat their opponents who were seated as a result of lower (Electoral Court) rulings.

[The ruling will have a direct effect on at least four senate seats: Cassio Cunha Lima (PSDB-PB) will get the seat of Wilson Santiago (PMDB-PB); João Capiberibe (PSB-AP) will substitute Gilvam Borges m(PMDB-AP);Jader Barbalho (PMDB-PA) will substitute Marinor Brito (PSOL-PA) and Marcelo Miranda (PMDB-TO) will substitute Vicentinho Alves (PR-TO). However, it seems that the courts will still have to decide on each case individually before any changes in seating arrangements actually take place. It should also be noted that there is a backlog of at least 30 other Ficha Limpa cases in courts]

The president of the OAB, Ophir Calvacante, pointed out that Ficha Limpa was a response to public demand and frustration with “various politicians who had rap sheets as long as their arms, thumbing their noses at society and the courts by means of endless legal maneuvers to postpone final decisions on their cases as they obtained safe haven in elective office.”

“We are frustrated, but this ruling does not mean we have been defeated. The Ficha Limpa law is constitutional and will be in effect in the next elections,” declared Calvalcante.  

Meanwhile, the executive secretary of the Movement for Combat of Electoral Corruption (MCCE), Jovita José Rosa, said the justices made an erroneous interpretation of the law. “In our opinion, and that of many jurists, Ficha Limpa does not alter the electoral process. The law deals only with the question of eligibility and cannot be considered a penalty. Candidates were registered under the Ficha Limpa law. Our feeling is one of deception. However, we are now certain that political reform is more than ever urgently necessary.”

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English   

Link - OAB afirma que decisão do STF sobre Lei da Ficha Limpa “frustra a sociedade”