Paes accepts ruling as annulled votes put Ruas over Rio’s first-round line

Paes accepts ruling as annulled votes put Ruas over Rio’s first-round line
Eduardo Paes’s bid to preserve a runoff in the Rio de Janeiro governor’s race has ended at the Supreme Federal Court, clearing the way for Douglas Ruas to be declared elected after a recalculation of votes.

Justice Cristiano Zanin rejected Paes’s request to suspend the Superior Electoral Court’s decision voiding 274,411 votes cast for Anthony Garotinho. Zanin did not rule on Paes’s underlying argument, finding instead that the candidate had not exhausted the available appeals within the electoral court system.

Paes’s position was that Garotinho’s votes should remain in the denominator used to determine whether a candidate had won an outright majority. In the original tally, Ruas received 49.27% of valid votes, while Paes won 42.76%; Garotinho had 3.17%. Paes argued that voiding the votes after the election should not remove the possibility of a second round.

That view had some support in the electoral court: two justices dissented from the majority decision to annul Garotinho’s votes, warning that a candidate who ran while an appeal was pending should not trigger the loss of a runoff when no one had secured an absolute majority in the initial count. The majority, however, upheld the rejection of Garotinho’s candidacy and made the annulment final, citing eligibility requirements related to political rights and party affiliation.

With Garotinho’s votes excluded, Ruas’s share rises to 50.88%, above the threshold for a first-round victory. The Rio regional electoral court was due to retotal the vote on Saturday, formalizing a result that would cancel the runoff previously scheduled for Oct. 25.

Paes subsequently acknowledged the outcome while maintaining his preference for a second round. “And judicial decisions, we respect. That is how democracy works,” he wrote, adding that his political group would remain watchful of the incoming administration.

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