Justice Kassio Nunes Marques of Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) ordered TV Globo to include Novo’s presidential candidate, Romeu Zema, in a debate scheduled for Thursday, following a request from the party’s national leadership.¹

Novo argued that Zema had not been invited despite the party having five federal deputies currently in office. Three were elected under the Novo banner in 2022, while two joined later. Under Brazil’s electoral law, candidates from parties with representation of at least five members of Congress are entitled to take part in debates.

Nunes Marques accepted an interpretation based on the legislature’s present composition rather than solely on election-day results. “The law refers to parties ‘with representation in the National Congress,’ an expression that, in principle, allows consideration of the parliamentary composition effectively existing” at the relevant time, he said.¹

The justice also framed the decision as consistent with the purpose of electoral debates, saying that legal representation criteria should not narrow “the space for public confrontation between candidacies” beyond what the law itself requires.¹

Globo had invited Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party, Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party, Augusto Cury of Avante and Ronaldo Caiado of the Social Democratic Party. Novo’s original filing also cited the absence of its candidates for governor in the Federal District and Rio de Janeiro.¹

The account supplied under the Brazil Left grouping details the court’s legal rationale and Novo’s representation claim. The item listed under the Brazil Right grouping contained only an error notice, offering no competing factual account or response to the order.