PT finds loophole in legislation and asks Lula for open TV and radio channels

The PT submitted this Tuesday (6th) to the Ministry of Communications a request to have its own TV and radio channels open. The document was signed by the party’s president, Gleisi Hoffmann (PR), and by the PT’s national communication secretary, Jilmar Tatto (SP).

No other party has an open TV channel. Tatto argued that the grant will help “disseminate our ideas and militancy proposals”. If the processing of the concession request advances, it will be up to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to grant it.

“A communication channel of the Workers’ Party would enable the fulfillment of a constitutional, legal and statutory duty, providing opportunities for political participation beyond the simple act of voting, adopting a true pedagogy of political-party participation”, says the official letter. .

Possible loophole in legislation

The jurist Fabricio Rebelo stated that a request like this “is something really unheard of in Brazil, but that seems to be located in a nebulous area”. “The Constitution and the Brazilian Telecommunications Code do not prohibit a concession from being requested by a political party. The requirements end up being the same as those of a legal entity governed by private law”, stated Rebelo.

“There are, yes, some provisions that, if interpreted rigidly, would prevent – such as that whoever exercises a mandate is a director in some concessionaire, something that, with even more reason, should be extended to the caption -, but there is, in fact, a gap that seems to have been discovered by the PT. Conceptually, it is a clear distortion of the concession, since it is not an informative service, but a manifest vehicle of political publicity”, pointed out the lawyer.

In the case of a politician with a mandate, the impediment is provided for in art. 38, sole paragraph, of the Brazilian Telecommunications Code. “If the objective is to prevent the political representative from using the means of communication, with much more reason could a party not do so”, he said.

In addition, Rebelo recalls that article 54 of the Federal Constitution provides that deputies and senators will not be able to: “sign or maintain a contract with a legal entity governed by public law, autarchy, public company, mixed economy company or concessionary company of public service, except when the contract obeys uniform clauses”, says the legislation.