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The Public Ministry (MPE) and the Special Action Group for the Repression of Organized Crime (Gaeco) launched this Saturday (14) Operation “Free Vote”, to investigate the illegal purchase of votes by voters in Araguari.
Nine search warrants and seizures are carried out on electoral committees, the homes of candidates and people involved in the campaigns. During the action, a candidate for councilor was caught on the spot for illegal possession of a firearm.
The Public Ministry and Gaeco did not specify which parties and which candidates are the target of this operation. OR G1 was contacted for more details but received no comment until the last update of this report.
The operation has the participation of two prosecutors and 34 military police.
According to the MPE, vote buying would be carried out by political parties and candidates, through a simulated hiring of people to work as inspectors in municipal elections. Research also indicates that some candidates are promising aid and benefits in exchange for the voters’ vote, including favors related to essential public services, such as in the area of health.
The investigation by the Public Ministry also indicates that one of the candidates is making use of a public office that has to intervene in favor of the voters, with “the sole purpose of illegally electing votes in municipal elections.”
The objective of the operation is to provide evidence of the crimes under investigation pending before the Public Ministry. The seized materials will be analyzed and examined by the Uberlândia regional Gaeco.
The practice of buying votes is a crime under electoral law, with a penalty of up to four years in prison.
