Senator Eduardo Girão (Novo-CE), candidate Fortaleza City Hallwas removed from the election debate on Monday night, the 16th, by court order.
The debate organized by Optimista TV was attended by Evandro Leitao (PT), Jose Sarto (Pacific Standard Time), Captain Wagner (Unity), George Lima (Solidarity), Andre Fernandes (PL) and Tecio Nunes (Psol).
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Girão participated in the first block, but the mediator kicked him out during the break. The electoral law requires broadcasters to invite candidates from parties with a minimum representation in the National Congress – that is, five MPs.
The Novo Party, of which Girão is a member, did not meet this requirement at the start of the election campaign, as it did not have at least five MPs. Despite this requirement, Girão received an invitation to debate due to his numbers in the polls.
Currently, Novo has one senator – Girão himself – and four federal deputies, which, in theory, would meet the parliamentary quota for mandatory invitations to election debates. But the party has only four MPs. Representative Ricardo Salles (SP) joined the party, after leaving the PL, in early August.
PT and Solidariedade call for the dismissal of Eduardo Girão
The PT candidate for Mayor of Fortaleza, Evandro Leitão, filed a request with the court to exclude Girão from the debate, but the request was initially denied. Subsequently, George Lima’s team also appealed to the court, which then ruled to exclude Novo representatives from the meeting.
During a break in the election debate on TV Optimista, the Court communicated the decision to the candidates. Therefore, the mediator informed Girão that he should leave the debate.
The senator protested the decision. On social media, he classified the episode as “disrespectful” and “censorious.”
“Who is afraid of what we will say?” Girão asked. “What obstacles did the PT, Solidariedade and Psol put in place from the beginning that they did not want me to participate in this debate. I was surprised by this in the middle of the debate, it was disrespectful to the people watching. We prepared, we studied, we had many topics to debate.”
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