After female candidate receives campaign material with another candidate's number, Electoral Justice annuls PMB votes for gender quota fraud in Curitiba

Electoral Justice annuls PMB ticket for gender quota fraud The Regional Electoral Court of Paraná (TRE-PR) recognized, by 4 votes to 3, gender quota fraud on the Brazilian Woman's Party (PMB) ticket and determined the annulment of the votes received by the party in the 2024 city council elections in Curitiba. The party can still appeal to higher courts. ➡️At the end of 2025, the Brazilian Woman's Party (PMB) formalized at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) the change of the party's name to Democrat. Consequently, councilman Bruno Secco – who is now affiliated with the Novo party, but was elected while in the PMB – is expected to lose his seat on the Curitiba City Council, and the seat will pass to a candidate from another party. This happens because the election of councilmen is defined by the proportional system, which distributes seats among parties. Understand below how the distribution works. The name of the councilman or councilwoman who will take over the seat will only be known after the retotalization of votes by the Electoral Justice, which does not yet have a date to occur. ✅ Follow the g1 PR channel on WhatsApp Female council candidate received campaign material with another candidate's number The judges analyzed the situation of city council candidate "Telma Nogueira do Projeto Debo," who ran under the PMB. She received nine votes. In the winning vote during the trial, Judge Tatiane de Cássia Viese pointed out that electoral fraud is configured "if the party launches a candidate without the conditions to compete and, above all, if it acts to hinder her competitiveness." PMB candidate received nine votes in the 2024 elections for the Curitiba City Council Reproduction/TSE In Telma's case, evidence that made up the case file indicated that the candidate attended the party convention and chose the number she would use in the campaign. However, due to a party error, another candidate also chose the same number. According to the judge, upon noticing the situation, the party requested Telma's registration with a different number and did not formally notify her of the change. Telma received campaign material with the number she had chosen, but which was not the number appearing on her candidacy registration and on the ballot box. Thus, Telma campaigned with another candidate's number. "This means that, regardless of the degree of effort Telma directed toward her campaign, any votes she would have received were directed to a male candidacy. In my view, that is exactly where the gender quota fraud lies: the party conduct of altering Telma's ballot number without notifying her, producing her campaign material with the number that was not hers, but rather a male candidate's, led her to campaign not for herself, but for another candidate — a man," Viese's vote indicates. At the end of 2025, the Brazilian Woman's Party (PMB) changed its name to Democrat Reproduction g1 reached out to the Democrat party (formerly PMB), but received no response by the time of the last update of this report. Councilman Bruno Secco said in a statement that he respects the decisions of the Electoral Justice, but states that he received the result with "profound disbelief." See below the full statement from the councilman: "I receive with profound indignation the decision that determined the annulment of the PMB ticket for alleged gender quota fraud. An error related to the registration of a candidacy ended up resulting in the annulment of more than 43 THOUSAND votes legitimately cast by the residents of Curitiba, among them the 11,436 votes I received, a vote count that made me the sixth most voted councilman in Curitiba. This is a decision that affects thousands of voters and candidates who, like me, have never exercised any party leadership function or contributed to the facts discussed in the process. I respect the decisions of the Electoral Justice, but I receive this result with profound disbelief. Since the first day of my term, I have sought to repay the population's trust with hard work, being, to date, the most productive councilman in the Curitiba City Council in terms of the number of proposed bills filed. It is precisely out of respect for the 11,436 voters who trusted in our project and for the entire population of Curitiba that we will appeal the decision, with the hope that justice prevails and the sovereign will expressed at the ballot boxes is preserved." READ ALSO: Environment: Ibama fines Curitiba City Hall R$ 525 thousand for irregularities in tree cutting on Avenida Arthur Bernardes Cup: Curitiba will not have an optional holiday for Brazil vs. Japan; see how public services will operate Urban mobility: Court suspends Curitiba public transit bidding process following request from bus companies This is the third change in the composition of the Curitiba City Council by court decision Election of councilmen is defined by the proportional system Disclosure/Curitiba City Council With the decision, the Electoral Justice must reprocess the results of the Curitiba municipal elections. This will change the distribution of seats for each party in the Curitiba City Council, which will lead to changes in the roster of councilmen. This will be the third reprocessing of the results of the 2024 municipal elections. The first change in the composition of the Curitiba Council occurred in May of this year, after the Electoral Justice annulled the votes of the Brazilian Labor Renewal Party (PRTB), also following a conviction for gender quota fraud. The PRTB can still appeal the decision. With the decision, the distribution of seats for each party changed, and Toninho da Farmácia, elected councilman for the PSD, lost his seat – even though he had no connection to the party whose votes were annulled – and reverted to the status of alternate. Mauro Bobato, who ran for office under the PP, took office. The second change happened in June, when the Electoral Justice annulled the votes of the Democratic Renewal Party (PRD) due to gender quota fraud on the party's ticket. Consequently, councilman Sidnei Toaldo lost the seat he occupied, and Toninho da Farmácia returned to the legislature. Election of councilmen is defined by the proportional system Candidates for mayor, governor, senator, and president of the Republic are elected based on a majority system. In this electoral modality, whoever obtains the highest number of valid votes is elected. In the case of councilmen and deputies, the election is different and is defined by the proportional system. In this context, to occupy a seat on the City Council, it is also necessary to take into account the electoral quotient, calculated by dividing all valid votes (excluding blanks and nulls) by the number of available seats in the election. For example: in a municipality with 10 seats on the Council and 100,000 valid votes, parties need at least 10,000 votes to be entitled to a seat in the municipal Legislature. VIDEOS: Most watched on g1 Paraná Read more news on g1 Paraná.