World
Renan Santos files TSE challenge against Bolsa Família increase
The Missão presidential candidate asked the electoral court to suspend the decree announced by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. O Globo reported that the case is expected to go to Justice André Mendonça, who already handled a similar complaint.
Presidential candidate Renan Santos of the Missão party has filed a complaint before Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court against the Bolsa Família adjustment announced on Thursday by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, according to O Globo.
O Globo reported that Santos requested an injunction to suspend the effects of the decree until the inauguration of the candidates elected this year, arguing that the move was needed to preserve equal conditions in the race. In the filing, he said the measure could distort the election and stressed that the increase had not been included either in the 2026 annual budget law or in the 2027 budget bill sent to Congress on August 31, 2026.
According to the newspaper, Justice André Mendonça is expected to oversee the new case because he already had a similar matter under his responsibility. Earlier in the day, he had rejected a separate challenge to the same benefit adjustment filed by federal lawmaker and reelection candidate Zé Trovão, an ally of Flávio Bolsonaro. In that ruling, Mendonça cited previous decisions holding that a candidate for the lower house does not have standing to sue a presidential candidate because the two offices are contested in different electoral jurisdictions.
The government made the announcement in the morning at the Planalto Palace. Since the program was relaunched in March 2023, Bolsa Família had not been adjusted. With the change, the minimum monthly payment will rise from 600 reais to 691 reais, starting in October, with disbursements beginning on the 19th, between the first round and a possible runoff in the presidential election.
The Planning Ministry said the cost of the adjustment this year will be 5.8 billion reais, with a 22.7 billion real impact on spending in 2027. O Globo added that in August the government had sent the 2027 budget proposal to the legislature without including an increase in the program’s amounts.
The Finance Ministry said the adjustment merely restores inflation losses from recent years and therefore should not be treated as an expansion of the benefit. Planning Minister Bruno Moretti denied any link between the measure and the 2026 election. According to the Office of the Solicitor General, the 2023 law that created the new Bolsa Família allows the executive branch to update benefit values and bars reductions.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
