Latinnews.com ($) reports that the deal among leftwing parties to support a single mayoral candidate for Sao Paolo, Marta Suplicy, was in part to give her more of the state subsidized airtime:
The electoral accord will give Suplicy almost seven minutes of free air time on television for electoral broadcasts, second only to the incumbent mayor […]

Mentioning short campaign periods and limits on expenditures in privately-owned media, LatioMadrid writes that the rules governing political campaigns are more “clear” and “strict” in Spain than in Latin America, and thus that campaigns are less expensive. They fail to mention that information about campaign donations and expenditures are far more forthcoming in several Latin American countries (e.g. […]

In response to allegations from the the Supreme Electoral Tribunal that they accepted money from impermissible sources during last year’s electoral campaign, the PSDB and its former presidential candidate argue that their accounts were “absolutely” regular, Folha reports (Portuguese). If they are found guilty, the PSDB would lose its free tv time for next year.

Latinnews.com($) reports of a new scandal that broke in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul for the PT. The allegations are that the PT governor granted over-priced contracts to advertising companies in exchange for their donations to PT candidates, including candidates to the federal congress and senate. At least one of these candidates, Senator […]

Cisco Systems has gotten into trouble in Brazil for tax evasion, and now the PT is implicated: it seems Cisco gave over a quarter of a million dollars to the PT and the party did not disclose the contribution. It seems that the contribution helped Cisco get a contract to supply a state-owned bank in Brazil. […]

Eight years after its introduction, the electoral authority (TSE) has used its power to revoke the electoral victories of candidates who buy votes 215 times. Estadao.com writes that 101 of these were mayors, 53 were vice-mayors, and 51 were councilmen. The small remainer were federal deputies, senators, or governors. Some politicians, including 25 federal deputies, are currently […]

…in Brazilian elections for the past 15 years. The study by the OPB reached the estimate by totaling the amount in corruption scandals over the period. Marco Aurélio, president of Brazil’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal said the figure might be higher if the the study took into consideration on-going investigations. More at Agora MS (Portuguese).

26 of Brazil’s 28 parties had their annual financial reports turned in by the deadline today. They show the PT and the PSDB in the red at Br$47 million and Br$17.8 million, respectively. By contrast, the DEM (for Democrats, the former PFL) and the PMDB have some money to spare.

Marco Aurélio was reelected for another two years as head of the powerful (and busy) Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) in Brazil. It will be his second and last term since he comes appointed from the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), which is made of only 11 members - losing members for too long puts too much of […]

The federal police in Brazil have uncovered scores of people involved in an illegal gambling ring, including two congressmen. Latinnews.com($) reports:
According to the Brazilian press, deputies Marina Maggessi (opposition) and Simão Sessim (government-allied), both from Rio de Janeiro, received illegal campaign donations from gambling bankers. In exchange for the donations Maggessi and Sessim were supposed to […]

In a post written earlier this month, I mentioned the news from Brazil in which Congress approved changes to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal’s allocation of the Party Fund - a monthly subsidy given by the state to political parties - in which 95% would be distributed according to the vote in the previous election to the lower […]

Last week both chambers of the Brazilian congress approved legislation to modify the distribution of the annual “party fund” state subsidy given to political parties. The TSE (electoral authority) had modified the distribution on February 6th such that 49% would go equally to parties registered with the TSE, 29% to parties based on their congressional […]

Trasparency Brazil released the results of a report today that estimates that 8.3M voters were asked if they would sell their vote (”compra de votos”) in the October 1 state and federal elections. The report says that the problem is not getting better but worse since they began studying vote buying in 2000. Their report […]

Brazilian political parties today must submit to the electoral authority their date-requests for free media time for the upcoming year. Following a resolution reducing their amount of free media time, major parties will now get 20 minutes of free national tv time for the year, allocated in spots of 30 seconds to a minute for […]

The Brazilian Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a law that would have prevented parties from receiving state subsidies and significant TV time for elections (and from serving on certain directing boards or investigatory committees in the legislature) unless they surpass a threshold in federal legislative elections. The threshold - of at least 2% of the national […]