After two weeks, the candidates have already injected more than R $ 40 million in their own campaigns | Choice in numbers

The survey reveals that 23 candidates transferred more than R $ 100 thousand in their own resources to the campaign. However, the majority of the 9,903 candidates who injected money into the application itself (83%) placed lower amounts, up to R $ 5,000.

In these elections, self-financing (when the candidate puts his money in his own campaign) must respect the limit of 10% of the spending ceiling for the labor campaign. In 2018, the rule was different: it was 10% of the donor’s gross income in the year before the election.

Considering the limit of 10% of the campaign spending ceiling in 2020, the amount of own resources varies according to municipality and position. In the first round contest for mayor, the ceiling ranges between R $ 123 thousand and R $ 51.8 million. For the councilor, this variation is from R $ 12.3 thousand to R $ 3.7 million.

The virtual professor of the PUC Minas and legal advisor of the TSE Lara Ferreira says that money is one of the important factors for electoral success. For her, the change in the self-financing limit can be positive because it creates “greater equality” in the dispute and prevents a millionaire candidate from financing his own campaign.

She says, however, that the change could have negative effects in smaller cities, where the spending ceiling is lower, as well as the self-financing limit. “The own resources ceiling in small campaigns, which are the majority of campaigns in Brazil, tends to be very severe. It is not reasonable to demand that the candidates, in minor campaigns, with a ceiling of around R $ 13 thousand, invest only R $ 1.3 thousand in the campaign itself. I think it is a very low value. Depending on the configuration, it can lead to a higher incidence of box two. ”

Resource distribution

Lara Ferreira adds that public resources are important to guarantee the participation in the election of people who do not have money and also to democratize access to public office. Despite this, adds the professor, it is still necessary to establish rules to force the dispersion of resources among the candidates.

“We still have this figure of party leaders, who have led legends for many years and will end up deciding for themselves practically which candidate should receive the funds. There was a significant change when he left the private model and switched to the public model. But he ended up putting on the shoulders of the leaders which candidate will receive more visibility [recursos]. ”

He also recalls that the TSE determined in August that the parties must allocate at least 30% of the electoral fund to black candidates (the sum of mestizos and blacks, as defined by IBGE). In 2018, the court had already ruled that women’s applications should also receive at least 30% of the party’s resources.

Ideally, the rules are created through legislative reform to account for all the complexity. These rules should induce the deconcentration of resources that in the logic of party associations always end up going to those candidates who have consolidated careers and, therefore, end up making it difficult for new actors to enter the political system, especially those who do not have where to get the resources. financial ”, says Lara Ferreira.

In addition, the PUC Minas Virtual professor also affirms that some candidates have chosen to try to obtain funds from the parties themselves, instead of encouraging donations from individuals. According to her, this gives even more power to the party leaders. Although there are still problems, Lara acknowledges that there have also been advances in recent years.

She says that, beginning with the 2016 election, setting a cap on campaign spending made the dispute more equitable and forced everyone to stick to the spending cap. Another adjustment in the law that Lara considers fundamental is related to the limit of donations from individuals for campaigns. The law determines that the maximum is 10% of the annual gross income declared to the IRS, considered the year before the election.

“The problem with this percentage is that it transports the campaign by financing a whole scheme of campaign inequality that already marks our Brazilian reality. Ideally, we should have the same roof for everyone. For example, up to R $ 100 thousand 50 thousand can be donated, to which both the teacher and the great businessman would be linked ”.

Candidates with more own resources

THE G1 He located the five candidates who, until now, most took money out of their pockets for campaigns. They are all candidates for mayor. Sometimes, the values ​​are close to that of an apartment or even several months’ salary paid by the city council.

The leader of the ranking is Vittorio Medioli (PSD). It transferred, in total, R $ 500 thousand of its own resources for the candidacy for mayor of Betim (MG). At the moment, this amount is the only one that is reported as income to the TSE. In a note, the press office says that “Vittorio Medioli’s campaign strictly follows what is allowed by law.”

Shortly after, with R $ 450 thousand of own resources, there is the candidate Fabiano Cazeca (PROS), who is running for the City Council of Belo Horizonte. This was the only recipe reported by the TSE so far. The candidate’s note says that “the candidate is campaigning absolutely within the scope of electoral legislation.”

In third place, the candidate João Guilherme (Novo) transferred R $ 445 thousand from his pocket for his candidacy for mayor of Curitiba. In addition to its own resources, it also received R $ 23 thousand from individuals.

The candidate’s note says that “he knew that he would not have funds from the electoral fund, since his party has the principle of not using it.” “It made a reserve of its own resources to be applied in the production of materials as soon as the CNPJ campaign came out, achieving lower costs than those currently practiced,” he says.

The re-election candidate José Luiz Nanci (Citizenship), who is trying to stay one more term in the city of São Gonçalo (RJ), took R $ 311 thousand from his pocket for the campaign. Nanci’s responsibility also shows that she received more than R $ 4 thousand from individuals. In a note, the candidate says that “the use of own resources is within the limits of the TSE standard.”

Finally, the candidate Thiago Muniz (DEM) put R $ 270 thousand of his own resources in the campaign for the mayor of Rondonópolis (MT). This is the candidate’s only campaign income for now. The advice of candidate Thiago Muniz was sought by the G1, but declined to comment.