Electoral harassment occurs when a worker, whether in the public or private sector, é coerced or forced, by some authority, to vote or not vote for a particular candidate. The practice occurs in different situations. And it is a crime: common or electoral, depending on how it occurs.
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What is electoral harassment or coercion?
Any coercion, threats (such as job loss) or promess of benefit to convince workers to vote for whoever the “boss tells them to” fall within the definition of this crime. Additionally, collecting voter identification documents or forcing a candidate to wear t-shirts are also considered forms of electoral harassment.
On election days, companies are forced to release employees in time to exercise the right to vote, without requiring compensation of hours. Preventing or hindering the exercise of voting is an electoral crime, punishable by imprisonment and fines.
Filming, embarrassment, humiliation
Different practices of physical and psychological violence constitute moral harassment. More recently, the MPT found that businesspeople instructed their employees to film using your cell phone when voting at the voting booth, as a way of proving your vote for candidate Jair Bolsonaro (PL). O secrecy and freedom to vote in Brazil they are guaranteed by law, as provided for in the Federal Constitution.
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“Popular sovereignty will be exercised through universal suffrage and direct and secret voting, with equal value for all.” Article 14 of the Federal Constitution.
This Tuesday (25), a recording of the moment a baby was born in a surgical center in Pará became the center of investigation into an alleged case of electoral harassment. In the video, a professional embarrasses the baby and the woman in labor: “This here is Gael's mom. On the 30th, will she vote? Say, I'm going to send this video to Bolsonaro“. After the content circulated on the networks, the state's Regional Council of Medicine investigated whether obstetrician and gynecologist Allan Rendeiro committed moral and electoral harassment during the baby's birth.
Compensation of R$10 for victim of electoral harassment
1.176 cases of electoral harassment were reported to the MPT during this electoral period, a number 5 times higher than that of the last general election, in 2018.
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This Tuesday (25), in Brasília, the Regional Labor Court of the 10th Region (TRT-10) decided preliminarily that goods, services and tourism companies pay a fine of R $ 10 thousand for each employee who suffers electoral harassment.
In addition to the fine, the convicted person must pay R $ 200 thousand per day of non-compliance with the order issued by the judge, and R $ 50 thousand by the prohibition of guidance by trade unions.
Electoral Harassment CPI
Last Tuesday (25), parliamentarians formed a majority to open a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) into Electoral Harassment. The prediction is that CPI investigates allegations of electoral harassment by “businessmen, company managers and even municipal mayors who threaten workers, demanding or inducing them to vote for President Jair Bolsonaro, or even offering prizes or rewards to those who do so”, informed the senator Alexandre Silveira (PSD-MG), who defends the investigation.
According to the minority leader in the Federal Senate, Jean Paul Prates (PT-RN), the CPI's proposal is also to verify whether there is a central command of criminal actions. Prates assesses that the Public Ministry of Labor and the Electoral Court have been playing a fundamental role in investigating complaints and punishing the responsible, but the Commission could evaluate possible articulations and figures involved in the reported electoral harassment.
How to report?
Cases of electoral harassment can be reported on the website of the Public Ministry of Labor (MPT), (mpt.mp.br), at the Report button, or “Sparrow” app, available for Android and iOS. The complaint may be confidential. Workers who fall into any of these options can prove electoral harassment through photos, videos, messages, documents or witnesses.
With information from the Senate Agency
Curto Curatorship
- Message from the TSE reinforces that any form of coercion of workers to vote for candidates is a crime (TSE)
- In audio, boss confesses to having instructed employees to put cell phones in their bras to film votes in Bahia (G1)
- Company that asked employees to vote for Bolsonaro will pay R$50 (UOL)
- TSE will accelerate the fight against electoral harassment in companies (EBC)
