PRTB has replaced Pablo Marçal with party president Leonardo Avalanche as its presidential candidate, a change described across coverage as a direct response to the rejection of Marçal’s candidacy.¹ Silvia Hellen da Silva Pereira, who had been listed on the ticket, will now run as Avalanche’s vice-presidential candidate.

From the party’s perspective, the switch is not a break with Marçal’s campaign but an attempt to keep it alive. Avalanche said PRTB had fought “until the last minute” to retain Marçal and would continue the same project under his own name after the candidate was not approved.² He said the party had tried every possible avenue, arguing that “the entire system” had been set against it.

The electoral authorities’ reasoning is narrower. According to the Superior Electoral Court’s understanding, Marçal did not prove he had joined PRTB by the April deadline required to stand for office. He had previously been affiliated with União Brasil and registered his presidential bid on the basis of a provisional ruling recognizing his PRTB membership retroactively.²

Marçal was also ruled ineligible until 2032 after an eight-year suspension of his political rights over improper use of media during the 2024 campaign, the report said. The court system listed his registration as rejected, while Avalanche’s candidacy was awaiting judgment.²

The replacement puts Avalanche, who had initially been the vice-presidential candidate, at the centre of the ticket. The report notes that he has led PRTB since 2024 and declared 495 million reais in assets to electoral authorities, most of it in cryptocurrency. It also says he is a defendant in a São Paulo case involving allegations including criminal association, political gender-based violence and false entries in public systems; the case remains an allegation rather than a finding of guilt.²