A Judicialização das Eleições Municipais: A Deliberação Política na Justiça Eleitoral e os Limites entre Legalidade e Política

Abstract

This article analyzes the phenomenon of the judicialization of municipal elections in Brazil, using the 2024 case of the city of Aparecida/SP as a case study. It investigates how the Electoral Justice, while formally tasked with safeguarding the legality of the democratic process, is increasingly mobilized as an instrument of political dispute. By drawing on Jürgen Habermas’s theory of deliberative democracy and the concept of "supremocracy" by Oscar Vilhena Vieira, the study explores how legal mechanisms—particularly the Action for Impugning the Registration of Candidacy (AIRC)—are strategically used to create uncertainty and disrupt the equality of electoral competition. The article reveals how judicial procedures are manipulated not to ensure fairness, but to delegitimize adversaries, often under the guise of legal formalism. It concludes by proposing that Electoral Justice must act not only with legal rigor but also with a commitment to public deliberation and democratic legitimacy, ensuring that electoral disputes do not compromise the right of voters to make informed and free choices.