“Taking into account the extreme social inequality in the country, the context of impoverishment of the population and the obligation to vote in Brazil, it is justifiable for the Public Power to bear the transportation costs arising from the exercise of this right-duty”, says a part of the decision.
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In the minister's assessment, the lack of a free transport policy on election day “has the potential to create, in practice, a new type of census vote, which takes away from the poorest the possibility of participating in the electoral process”.
The order comes one day after the minister met with representatives of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's (PT) campaign. The group was at the STF yesterday and asked Barroso to reconsider the decision that denied making free fees mandatory for voters in the first round. The PT campaign believes that the measure can help reduce abstention.
Barroso reassured the mayors and said that “municipalities can, without incurring any form of administrative, civil, criminal or electoral offence, promote a public policy of free transport on election day”. The minister made a point of making the clarification to prevent public managers from failing to act due to what he called an “unfounded fear of accountability”.
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Source: Estadão Content
