Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) is scheduled to examine former Rio governor Anthony Garotinho’s request to abandon his appeal against the rejection of his gubernatorial candidacy. The immediate issue is procedural, but its consequence could be decisive: the final invalidation of his votes may lift Douglas Ruas above the 50% threshold needed to avoid a second round.¹

The Electoral Public Prosecutor’s Office supports accepting the withdrawal. Its position is that the court would reach the same practical outcome even if it refused the request and ruled on the merits: Garotinho’s registration would remain definitively rejected and his votes would be annulled. “The practical result” of dismissing the appeal, prosecutors said, would be equivalent to granting the withdrawal.²

That reasoning rests on Garotinho’s status as a candidate sub judice: he was able to contest the first round while his appeal was pending, but the validity of his 274,411 votes — 3.17% of the total — depends on the final electoral ruling. Ruas led with 49.27%, compared with 42.76% for Eduardo Paes; removing Garotinho’s votes from the valid-vote base could put Ruas over 50%.² A post on X by commentator Rodrigo Constantino similarly said Ruas “should be declared” governor in the first round.Rodrigo Constantino (Rconstantino)³

Paes, however, has portrayed the withdrawal as an attempt to alter the result after voters had cast their ballots. He called it a “maneuver” to elect Ruas and argued that it would transfer the power to choose Rio’s next governor from the electorate to Garotinho.¹ He also pointed to the election of Garotinho’s son, Wladimir Garotinho, to Congress under Ruas’s PL party as a sign of what he described as coordination.¹

The TSE’s decision will determine whether the current runoff proceeds or whether the recalculated tally produces a first-round winner.