MP asks for impeachment of Renan Filho, governor and deputy of Alagoas

The Alagoas Regional Electoral Prosecutor’s Office defended the removal of the senator mandate of the Minister of Transport, Renan Filho (MDB), the state governor, Paulo Dantas (MDB) and the vice-governor, Ronaldo Lessa (PDT), for abuse of power. political and economic in the 2022 election campaign. According to the body, everyone would have benefited electorally from a program to distribute basic food baskets boosted months before the election.

“The date on which it was launched (less than 2 days before the beginning of the electoral campaign), the repeated mention of the program in interviews, reports, electoral programs and social networks (as already analyzed in item IV) and the size of the resources involved without plausible justification, give the Pact Against Hunger an eminently electoral purpose”, wrote the attorney Antonio Henrique Cadete in the final allegations of the process.

The program cost BRL 200 million and aimed to help poor families, distributing 110,000 basic food baskets per month. Former deputy of Renan Filho, Paulo Dantas took over the government of Alagoas in May and was re-elected. In the process, they claimed that the program met an emergency situation, which the law allows, due to the social vulnerability left by the pandemic and because of the rains that hit the state last year. They also said that the program to help the poor population already existed in previous years.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office pointed out “excessive increase” of the benefit in the election year. The number of baskets went from 210 thousand in 2021 to 379 thousand in 2022, 85% more. “The whole maneuver carried out based on the social vulnerability of a large part of the population of Alagoas (read: voters) had the sole purpose of winning the electorate’s sympathy and raising votes, injuring the balance in the electoral dispute”, said the agency.

The prosecutor wrote that Paulo Dantas idealized, promoted and carried out the program “with the clear intention of promoting himself in the elections, in addition to enabling the electoral benefit of his predecessor and main supporter, Renan Filho, candidate for the position of senator”.

As for Renan Filho, he said that, although he was not responsible for distributing the food baskets, “he was a direct beneficiary of the conduct, having agreed with them, actively participating in the dissemination of the assistance program for basic food baskets in an election year and using it as a platform for campaign”.

The MP asks that, in addition to being sentenced to loss of mandate, they also remain ineligible for 8 years. An eventual conviction, in the electoral context, does not interfere with Renan Filho’s position as minister of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

If the impeachment is determined by the Regional Electoral Court (TRE) and then confirmed by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), new elections are called, if the final decision takes place during the first biennium, until the end of 2024.