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On Thursday (13/10) night, the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) President Alexandre de Moraes prohibited the Federal Police and the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade) from opening procedures to investigate research institutes that conduct polls. He claimed that the two bodies do not have the legal competence to do so and determined the investigation of possible practices of abuse of authority, misuse of purpose and abuse of political power.
The Investigations
Earlier, on the same day, the Federal Police (PF) opened an inquiry to investigate electoral research institutes due to alleged differences between poll results and the results in the first round of the presidential election.
Also on Thursday (13/10), CADE President Alexandre Cordeiro determined the opening of an administrative inquiry to investigate “possible agreement between research institutes with the aim of manipulating the market and consumers”. The three companies investigated are: Ipespe, Datafolha and Ipec.
Request
The request to open the investigation against the institutes was made to Justice Minister Anderson Torres by the campaign for the reelection of President Jair Bolsonaro. The coalition asked for the investigation of a crime foreseen in the electoral legislation regarding “dissemination of fraudulent research”. Then Torres sent the representation to the Federal Police (PF), which launched the investigation.
According to the president of the Superior Electoral Court, however, it is up to the Electoral Court “to supervise the research entities, including the participation and possibility of contesting those involved and the exercise of police power to guarantee electoral legitimacy”.
The President’s Reaction
On Friday (14/10), President Jair Bolsonaro criticized Minister Alexandre de Moraes for the decision that prohibited the Federal Police (PF) and the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade) from opening procedures to investigate the search institutes. For Bolsonaro, companies will “continue to lie”, which, according to him, could benefit the PT’s candidate for president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
