Brazil’s Supreme Court Sets Rule: Brief Pre‑Election Substitution by Vice Does Not Bar Re‑Election

Overview

• The court fixed a thesis that a vice who assumes the executive by non‑final judicial order within six months before an election does not begin a new mandate for re‑election limits.
• The decision has repercussão geral, requiring similar cases nationwide to follow the Supreme Court’s understanding.
• Rapporteur Kassio Nunes Marques’s view prevailed, with Cármen Lúcia, Edson Fachin, Dias Toffoli and Flávio Dino in dissent.
• Nunes Marques argued that such brief, court‑ordered substitutions should not cause ineligibility and suggested a practical 90‑day cap, which was not incorporated into the thesis.
• The case arose from Allan Seixas, who as vice in 2016 assumed the Cachoeira dos Índios mayoralty for eight days; the TSE had treated that stint as exercising a mandate.