PT and PL will have the largest shares of the electoral fund

FUNDÃO

Fundão is distributed according to rules set out in electoral legislation

Jair Bolsonaro’s PL and Lula’s PT will be the parties that will receive the largest slices of the 2024 electoral fund.

President Lula sanctioned this Monday (22) the amount of R$4.9 billion to finance this year’s municipal election campaigns. The figure had been approved by the National Congress and represents a record for elections in cities.

The fund is distributed in accordance with the rules set out in electoral legislation. Among the criteria are the sizes of the benches in the Chamber and the Senate.

Bolsonaro was defeated in the 2022 presidential race, but the PL managed to elect the largest group of deputies. PT came in second place.

The PL is expected to receive R$863 million to fund the activities of the party’s candidates this year. The forecast for the PT is R$604 million.

Next are União Brasil (R$517 million), PSD (R$427 million), MDB (R$410 million) and PP (R$406 million).

The calculation was made by Henrique Cardoso Oliveira and Jaime Matos, political scientists from the 1º de Maio Foundation, linked to the Solidariedade party.

Republicans (R$332 million), Podemos (R$249 million), PDT (R$171 million) and PSDB (R$156 million) complete the list of the ten parties that will receive the most resources.

The TSE (Superior Electoral Court) is expected to publish an official table with the division of the funds by the end of June. However, values ​​may be subject to adjustment.

The 1º de Maio Foundation’s calculations consider the Novo party, which usually gives up electoral funds in its campaigns.

The turbocharged fund means an expansion of the power of party leaders in the election, as the level is practically double that distributed to parties in 2020, the last contest for the positions of mayor and councilor.

Until 2015, large companies, such as banks and construction companies, were mainly responsible for financing candidates. That year, the Federal Supreme Court (STF) prohibited corporate donations on the grounds that economic power unbalanced the democratic game.

Starting with the 2018 elections, the electoral fund was created, which uses public money to finance candidates’ campaign activities.

The fund for the last municipal election, in 2020, was established at R$2 billion (an amount that, adjusted for inflation, would now be approximately R$2.5 billion).

Party leaders argued that it would not be possible to run an electoral campaign with less money than in 2022, whose fund was R$4.9 billion. But that was a year of general elections, with disputes for president, governors, senators and federal and state deputies.

*With information from Folha de São Paulo

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