In the State of Rio de Janeiro, 53 polling stations were changed for security reasons
At the beginning of the month, the TRE-RJ (Rio de Janeiro Regional Electoral Court) announced the change of 53 polling stations in 10 municipalities in the state, due to security concerns in the 2024 elections. Most of these changes were in the city of Rio de Janeiro, but there are also modifications in Duque de Caxias, Belford Roxo, Nova Iguaçu, São João de Meriti, Japeri, Itaguaí, Niterói, Itaboraí and Sapucaia. Across the state, 171 thousand voters were affected by the changes. The decision, according to the president of the court, judge Henrique Carlos de Andrade Figueira, was motivated by the fact that these polling stations are subject to actions by organized crime.
For experts consulted by Brazil Agencythe infiltration of criminal groups into politics is one of the greatest threats to municipal elections not only in the State of Rio de Janeiro, but in the country as a whole. To ensure that their candidates are elected, these organizations may resort to violence, threats and coercion against opponents and also against voters.
“It is a process that has been happening in Brazil for a long time, but it is relatively new in the big cities: organized crime has learned to work from within the State. In the remote corners of Brazil, especially in the North of Brazil, this is older: organized crime elects politicians and interferes in the electoral process. In Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, or João Pessoa, this is newer.”explains Alan Fernandes, PhD in Police Sciences and Public Security, researcher at Brazilian Public Security Forum.
According to Fernandes, on election day, there is a risk of coercion against voters by these criminal groups, to make them vote for a certain candidate or even stop showing up at the polling stations.
“The main risk is the prevention of people from turning out in certain electoral zones. In places where violence and organized crime are prevalent, there are cases where people are prevented from going to the polling station, depending on the political interests of that faction. The second problem in these polling stations is the coercion of voters to vote for a particular candidate preferred by that armed group.”says Fernandes.
Measures
In Rio de Janeiro, militias are one of the armed groups that have taken advantage of politics and their participation in the State to strengthen their actions. As a result, new measures have been taken by the courts to ensure the fairness of the electoral process.
The ban on the use of cell phones and cameras in voting booths, adopted in 2008, for example, was a reaction by the TRE-RJ to information that drug traffickers and militiamen were forcing voters to register their vote at the ballot box, to prove that they were voting for candidates indicated by criminal groups. The measure ended up being adopted by TSE (Superior Electoral Court) for all states in the municipal elections of that year. It was later incorporated into electoral legislation in 2009.
Miguel Carnevale, researcher at Giel/UniRio (Electoral Investigation Group of the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro), explains that this action by criminal groups against voters is even stronger in municipal elections.
“You see a lot of contact between councilors and communities and a lot of strength from organized crime [para a eleição de seus candidatos escolhidos]. I believe that, for Rio de Janeiro, the entry of organized crime into politics is a particularly sensitive topic. This affects certain relationships, creates clientelist ties.”he explains.
Researcher at Lepov/UFF (Laboratory of Studies on Politics and Violence at the Fluminense Federal University), André Rodrigues states that municipal elections are always more violent than state and federal elections, according to studies carried out by Lepov/UFF in Greater Rio and the southern coast of Rio de Janeiro. “It is in elections that we see the most violent interference in politics”he says.
“There are three mechanisms that criminal groups adopt that threaten elections: veiled threats, such as explicit declarations of vote from someone who controls a location; the prohibition of some candidates from campaigning in militia or drug trafficking areas; and the violent elimination of opponents. In Baixada Fluminense alone, since 2015, we have already recorded 60 murders of people involved in local politics.”said Rodrigues.
According to the expert, although most of these mechanisms are used during the campaign period, voter coercion can occur on election day. Therefore, he believes that changing polling places is welcome.This doesn’t eliminate the mechanisms I talked about, but at least it can create a context, on the day [da votação]greater security for voters, so that they do not have to vote exactly in the place where that criminal directly dominates”.
Rodrigues remembers that “In the last municipal election, in Paraty and Angra dos Reis, we heard many reports of people who looked like militia members, with a threatening tone, positioning themselves in front of the polling station”.
Other cases
But it is not just the involvement of organized crime that threatens the security of elections. There are cases of violence between candidates and voters due to ideological issues, for example.
Researcher Miguel Carnevale warns that in September, in the final stretch of the first round of the election campaigns, it is possible to see an increase in situations of electoral violence. “That’s when these numbers start to increase, both political violence as a whole, and its most radical form, which is homicides.”.
For him, social media can play a role in amplifying this electoral violence. “You give people with problematic political issues the chance to express violent tendencies. You see a lot of threats on social media. Social media is the main focus for offenses, whether misogynistic, racist, or LGBTphobic. This is where this type of crime is concentrated. Psychological violence occurs mostly through this medium.”highlights Carnevale.
A quarterly survey by Giel/UniRio, called the Observatory of Political and Electoral Violence, recorded, between April and June of this year, the period before the official electoral campaigns, 128 cases of violence against party leaders throughout the country. This is more than double the number of the previous quarter, with 59 cases, and 24% higher than the 2nd quarter of 2022, with 103 cases, when the federal and state elections were held.
Threats were the main occurrence, but at least 25 murders were recorded, of which 6 were in Rio, the state with the most occurrences. Political positions linked to the municipal sphere continue to be the most affected category, according to the Observatory of Political and Electoral Violence.
This month, the MJSP (Ministry of Justice and Public Security) extended the period of stay of men from the National Security Force in the State of Rio de Janeiro for another 90 days, which includes campaign and voting dates.
The Rio State Security Secretariat reported that the Military Police is finalizing its operational planning for the voting days and will soon release it to the press.
With information from Brazil Agency.
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