World
The PL Fell Below the Minimum Allocation Thresholds for the Electoral Fund for Women and Black People
A review of partial filings submitted to Brazil’s Electoral Court placed the Liberal Party below the required floors for female and Black candidacies. The final check will come in November, when the definitive accounts are reviewed.
Brazil’s Liberal Party, which accounts for the largest share of the electoral fund in 2026, has so far failed to meet the minimum percentages required by the Electoral Court to distribute those resources among female and Black candidacies, according to an analysis by Folha de S.Paulo of the partial filings submitted to the Superior Electoral Court.
According to that review, of the 833 million reais transferred by the PL before the first round, 26.7% went to female candidacies and 22.8% to Black candidacies. Still according to Folha’s review, it was the only party that fell below 30% under both criteria.
The law establishes that funds earmarked for women must follow the proportion of female candidacies presented by each party, with a floor of no less than 30%. In the case of Black candidacies, at least that 30% must be respected, regardless of the proportion of nominations.
Folha de S.Paulo said the analysis is based on the partial accounting submitted by candidates to the TSE through Sept. 13. The official assessment of compliance with the rules will be carried out by the court only after the final filing of accounts, scheduled for November, so there may still be corrections.
The report also said that the PT, the second-largest recipient of resources, allocated 43% of the 519.4 million reais it declared to female candidacies, above the 36.8% those nominations represented within the party. For Black candidacies, the allocation was 35.1%.
According to the publication, other parties fell below the minimum in some categories. In the case of Black candidacies, in addition to the PL, Cidadania, Novo, MDB and PSD appeared. For women, in addition to the PL, PRTB also failed to reach 30%, although the outlet clarified that one substitute candidate did not declare receipt of funds because that filing falls under the responsibility of the top-of-the-ticket candidate.
Several parties told Folha that they did comply with the quotas and attributed the differences to inconsistencies in candidates’ declarations or to the way substitutes, running mates and expenses paid directly by party structures are counted. The PL, meanwhile, had not responded as of the latest update to the text.
Across the system as a whole, the review found that women received 35.01% of the resources and accounted for 34.85% of the candidacies. Black people, meanwhile, made up 49.64% of the candidates, but received 34.35% of the distributed fund. For Black women, the share of the total was 14.07%, the lowest among the gender-and-race combinations analyzed.
Researchers cited by Folha warned that, despite an improvement compared with previous elections, parties continue to treat the legal 30% floor as a ceiling. They also noted that the gaps are not limited to the amount transferred, but include delays in the arrival of the resources and a greater concentration in non-monetary contributions, such as graphic or audiovisual material.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this event.
