Ethical issue in the Brazilian Electoral Courts

Abstract

Electoral Justice is a branch of the Brazilian Judiciary that is specialized in electoral claims and lawsuits, and also has the function of administrating the elections – from the candidacies registration to accreditation of the elected. The constitutional model that defines how the Electoral Courts are composed presents issues to implement the Code of Ethics of National Magistrature since it is essentially different from the rest of the Brazilian Judiciary.This paper aims to relate the idiosyncrasies of the Electoral Courts and the impossibility of fulfilling the ethical principles stated in the Code, especially independence and impartiality. The methodology is essentially a literature review, focusing on the normative determinations in Brazilian law. As a result, the paper points out that the implementation of the ethical principles described in the Code is impossible in the constitutional interpretation that imposes to the Electoral Justice a completely different model than the other Judiciary branches.