At the end of his term, Aras anticipates his choice for the CNJ – 05/31/2023 – Frederico Vasconcelos

The Attorney General of the Republic, Augusto Aras, starts in advance the process to choose who will occupy the vacancy of the State Public Prosecutor’s Office in the CNJ (National Council of Justice). He repeats what he did in 2020, when he anticipated the choice for the same chair by 14 months.

The mandate of the current MPE representative on the council, Bahia prosecutor João Paulo Santos Schoucair, expires in June 2024. The elections are scheduled for the next 6th of June.

Aras’ term ends in September. If he is not reappointed by President Lula, the anticipation prevents his successor in the PGR from making the choice.

Schoucair can apply to run for reappointment. Other interested parties will have just one week to dialogue with MP members and present their qualifications. Schoucair, whose performance is praised by his colleagues, has a natural advantage as he is working at the CNJ.

On the last 25th, the secretary of the Superior Council of the Public Ministry of São Paulo, Tatiana Viggiani Bicudo, warned members of the MP interested in running for the vacancy of the state MP at the CNJ that registration would open from the 24th to the 29th of May, and that the election will take place on the next 6th.

Aras chairs the CSMP. He is the one who makes the appointments.

A countryman of Aras, Schoucair was already close to the PGR group when he won his first term. In the electoral campaign, he released a poster presenting himself as the coordinator of Gaeco of the Bahia MP and an auxiliary member of the PGR.

He was one of the assistants of the PGR’s Criminal Legal Advisory at the Superior Court of Justice, then coordinated by the deputy attorney general Lindora Araújo.

Aras’ Favorites

The term of counselor Ivana Farina Navarrete Pena, former Attorney General of Goiás, would end on October 22, 2021. In August 2020, Aras launched the selection process.

The anticipation was seen as a message to Ivana that she would not be reappointed because she belonged to the group of former attorney general Raquel Dodge, who had nominated her. She could run for a new term, but she didn’t sign up.

At the time, Raquel and Ivana did not comment on the fact.

Ivana’s name was announced by Raquel in March 2019 and approved by the Senate six months later. She was the most voted in the MP-GO and in the National Council of Attorneys General of Justice (CNPG).

Already elected in their states, promoters Carlos Vinícius Alves Ribeiro, from Goiás, and Schoucair, from Bahia, were cited as favorites for the vacancy.

Carlos Vinicius was not nominated by Aras for the CNJ, but he was appointed coordinator of Institutional Relations of the Public Ministry School and, later, auxiliary member of the presidency of the CNMP (National Council of the Public Ministry) and secretary general of the body.

On that occasion, Aras said that the deadlines were brought forward, in times of Covid-19, so as not to wait a year for the names to be considered in the Senate plenary. He cited as an example the CNMP, which had been short of three members for a year.

“Meanwhile, the colleges are left without filling the vacancies, harming the quorum of the judgments mainly of the disciplinary processes”, said the PGR at the time.

For candidates who aspire to reach the collegiate, it is a long walk from the state Public Ministry to the Judiciary control body. Who indicates the name for the vacancy of the Public Ministry of the States in the National Council of Justice is the Attorney General of the Republic. The process begins with the election of candidates in state MPs.

A triple list is formed and presented to the attorney general of justice, who chooses the state representative and forwards the name to the president of the CNPG (National Council of Attorneys General of Justice). A triple list is made, sent to the PGR, which chooses a name, sends it to the Federal Supreme Court, which, in turn, forwards it to the Senate. The candidate is submitted to a sabbatine and his nomination depends on the approval of the plenary.
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