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Brazil's Lower House Backs Ban on Voting by Pretrial Detainees

The measure now goes to the Senate for consideration before any potential presidential sanction.

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Overview

  • Deputies approved the change by 349–40 with one abstention as part of the broader anti–organized crime package known as PL Antifacção.
  • The amendment would block voting and prevent or cancel voter registration for people held in detention until their release.
  • Deputy Marcel van Hattem (Novo-RS) authored the proposal, arguing that those removed from society should not help decide electoral outcomes.
  • Current rules strip political rights only after a final conviction, so pretrial detainees can presently vote.
  • Political reactions cut across party lines, with PT lawmakers voting in favor even as leader Lindbergh Farias criticized the move and O Globo reporting that 70 PL deputies also supported it, with references to Jair Bolsonaro and Carla Zambelli’s current detention statuses.