Douglas Ruas, Rio de Janeiro’s governor-elect, and former mayor Eduardo Paes have launched competing legal actions over alleged irregularities in the race for the state government. The cases, filed between Sunday and Wednesday, accuse the opposing side of abuses including misuse of political and economic power, improper use of media, and vote-buying. Both seek an eight-year ban from office for their opponent; the cases against Ruas also request that his election diploma or mandate be revoked.
Ruas began the legal offensive with two filings. One alleges that Paes maintained an illegal website to publish accusations against him. According to the PL party, the site was hosted in the United States and promoted by Paes during a TV Globo debate. In a second case, filed Tuesday, Ruas accuses Paes of benefiting from pressure on employees and contractors connected to the city’s education department to attend political events. The claim draws on a proceeding opened by the Labor Prosecutor’s Office and also names current mayor Eduardo Cavaliere, who took office after Paes resigned to run for governor.
A third filing seeks to block the “Exército do Dudu” channel, created by the PSD’s Rio de Janeiro branch to mobilize support for holding a second round. The party has also brought a case before Brazil’s Supreme Court seeking a runoff.
Paes filed a case on Wednesday accusing Ruas of organizing widespread vote-buying. His filing cites social media posts describing alleged electoral crimes in Ruas’s favor, as well as police records of cash seizures linked to PL candidates. Paes also alleges economic-power abuse over leaflets portraying him as an opponent of Christian values and materials that associated the PSD candidate with the ballot number used by either the PL or President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s Workers’ Party. Paes described the material on social media as a “little hustler’s trick” and pointed to 204,000 voters who spoiled their ballots for governor by entering the Workers’ Party’s number, 13.
The filings add to a broader legal dispute over the result. The PSD is challenging the annulment of votes cast for Anthony Garotinho in the first round, after the Superior Electoral Court rejected the former governor’s candidacy registration. The decision raised Ruas’s share of valid votes from 49.27% to 50.88%, bringing the contest to an end.
Paes’s lawyers argue that votes should be considered null only when voters make a nonpolitical choice or mistype a number. They say the court’s decision to annul the votes after the election changed the political choice made by Garotinho’s supporters. Paes and Ruas did not comment when contacted about the allegations against them.
Sources: Folha Poder.