The Judiciary as the Main Character in Establishing the Rules of Electoral Competition in Brazil

Abstract

This paper aims to access such prominence by analyzing two main rulings: when the Court decided about the financing system of political parties and when the Court faced the division of time of electoral propaganda and the rules concerning electoral debates. On both occasions the justices evoked the principle of equality. Nevertheless, the application of such principle triggered two different results. In the first ruling the principle was employed to strike down sections of a federal law on political financing. In the second ruling the same principle wasn’t enough to invalidate a new legislation that is known to work against smaller political parties. When this twofold view on equality is duly considered, it becomes feasible to understand how the judicial branch is modifying the rules on electoral competition in Brazil.