Essay on Ineligibility

Abstract

The article examines the institute of ineligibility in Brazilian Electoral Law, with the aim of demonstrating that its interpretation must be guided by principles specific to this branch of law, rather than by the automatic transposition of the presumption of non-culpability typical of Criminal Law. It adopts a legal-dogmatic methodology based on the analysis of the Constitution, Complementary Law No. 64/1990, related legislation, doctrine, and electoral and constitutional case law. It argues that the system of ineligibility constitutes an autonomous subsystem within Electoral Law, structured by the principles of consideration of prior record, protection of morality for the exercise of office, prohibition of the influence of economic power, and trust, so that restrictions on eligibility are justified as mechanisms for safeguarding probity and the legitimacy of elections. The article also supports a teleological and systematic interpretation of item “i” of article 1, I, of Complementary Law No. 64/1990, in order to encompass not only credit, financing, or insurance institutions under liquidation, but also other companies subject to judicial or extrajudicial dissolution or liquidation whenever there is a risk to morality and to the balance of the electoral process. It concludes that ineligibility should be understood as a constitutional instrument for the protection of democracy, capable of limiting passive electoral capacity in the name of public morality and the normality of elections.