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By preventing social benefits in Coari with state of calamity, prosecutors contradict themselves
Adail Filho's candidate, Keitton Pinheiro, and prosecutors Thiago de Melo and Márcio Pereira (Reproduction/MP-AM)
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November 22, 2021
Paula Litaiff – from Cenarium Magazine*
MANAUS AND COARI – The action of the Public Ministry of Amazonas (MP-AM) in seeking Justice to bar this Saturday, 20, the distribution of social benefits by the Government of Amazonas in the city of Coari (363 kilometers from Manaus) – in full state of public calamity because of the pandemic – drew the attention of legal experts. In a note issued by MP-AM, the body itself contradicts itself, stating that the distribution of benefits is allowed in cases of “calamity”.
The city is going through an electoral campaign with the supplementary election, scheduled for December 5, after the cassation of the mayor elected in 2020, Adail Filho. Meeting the request of the candidate allied to Adail, Keitton Pinheiro (Progressives), the MP-AM acted against the benefits based on the provision of “Prohibited Conduct” provided in the Election Law (9.507/1997), which among the exceptions notes the cases of “public calamity”.
PUBLICIDADE
“The Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the economy and affected the poorest, and the state of public calamity allows for steps to be taken to help those who cannot wait for their purchasing power to return. Regardless of who will benefit, families cannot suffer from this”, said a lawyer specializing in Electoral Law.
“It is not appropriate to punish the needy with a lack of social support at a time when the pandemic has left trails of despair in families. There is a legal basis for the delivery of these benefits and, above all, there is an important social support”, said another lawyer.
On Saturday morning, 20, hundreds of families in the city of Coari who were waiting for the delivery of cards with the Emergency Aid and the distribution of food baskets had to return to their homes empty-handed.
The Electoral Court ordered to collect the benefits, heeding the action of the prosecutor who serves the County of Coari, Thiago de Melo Roberto Freire, and the prosecutor and member of the Special Action Group and Fight against Organized Crime (Gaeco), Márcio Pereira de Mello, ahead of Operation In Dextro Tempore. The prosecutors even recorded videos about the operation, as below:
Contradictory note
The MP-AM operation was intended to “to comply with the Election Law, which prohibits the free distribution of goods, values, or benefits by the Public Administration, be it state or municipal, during the election period”, says a note from the Amazonas Public Ministry.
Contradictorily, the same note makes an exception for “cases of public calamity, state of emergency or social programs authorized by law and already in budget execution in the previous year”.
In Amazonas, the “State of Public Calamity” decree was extended by governor Wilson Lima (PSC), for a period of 90 days, starting September 27, of this year, based on article 65 of Federal Complementary Law 101, of May 4, 2000.
The federal legislation meets the needs of the “serious public health crisis resulting from the Covid-19 (new coronavirus) pandemic and its repercussions on the public finances of the State of Amazonas.
‘Prohibited conducts’
In the face of the pandemic, some articles of the Election Law (Law 9.504/97) express exceptions to the general rule of prohibited conduct, especially in cases of public calamity, according to websites specialized in Electoral Law.
Initially, item IV of Article 73 of the aforementioned law establishes as prohibited conduct “to make or allow promotional use in favor of a candidate, political party or coalition, of free distribution of goods and services of a social character funded or subsidized by the government.
According to the law, in the election year, the free distribution of goods, values or benefits by the Public Administration is prohibited, except “in cases of public calamity”, among other conditions.
State of calamity
A state of public calamity is an abnormal situation in which the state or municipal government’s capacity to act is seriously compromised. This situation is the result of a disaster – no matter whether caused by nature or for other reasons (economic, social, etc.).
Emergency situations and states of calamity decreed by state or municipal authorities must be recognized by the Federal Government in order for federal resources to be allocated to the affected entity.
Once the emergency or calamity is recognized, the government also defines the amount of resources it will allocate to the affected entity.
The report tried to reach the prosecutors Thiago de Melo Roberto Freire and Márcio Pereira de Mello, but the press office of the Public Ministry said it would only answer the demand on Monday, 22.
(*) With the collaboration of Luís Henrique Oliveira and Catarine Hak
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