Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) is due to consider former Rio governor Anthony Garotinho’s request to withdraw his appeal challenging the rejection of his gubernatorial candidacy. The outcome could determine whether Rio de Janeiro holds a second-round election or declares Douglas Ruas the winner outright.

Garotinho, running for Republicanos, received 274,400 votes, or 3.1% of valid ballots, after campaigning and appearing in debates despite the state electoral court’s rejection of his candidacy. He later abandoned his appeal, and the Electoral Prosecutor General’s Office backed accepting that withdrawal. If the TSE makes the rejection final and nullifies his votes, Ruas of the PL could rise from 49.2% of valid votes to above 50%, according to the account published by Gazeta do Povo.¹

That interpretation treats the case chiefly as a legal consequence of an invalid candidacy: removing Garotinho’s ballots would recalculate the valid-vote total and could end the contest without a runoff. The same report says Paes, who finished second, has asked the TSE to prevent Garotinho’s appeal from being withdrawn and preserve a second round.¹

Paes offers a far more political reading. He said Garotinho’s decision was a “maneuver” intended to elect Ruas and called it an attempt to shift voters’ power to choose the governor to Garotinho.² He also alleged coordination between the two politicians, citing the election of Garotinho’s son Wladimir as a federal deputy for Ruas’s party, PL.²

The available accounts agree on the arithmetic and on the stakes: nullifying 3.1% of the vote could be decisive. They differ over what Garotinho’s withdrawal represents—an accepted procedural step, or, in Paes’s view, a move that could change the electoral result after the ballot.¹²