Brazil’s ghost candidates: How politicians abuse a law meant to encourage women in politics

Despite being 53% of eligible voters, participation of women in Brazilian politics is still much lower compared to men. A law created in the 1990s aimed to increase the number of female candidates per election, but the law has been abused by politicians to syphon resources and register ghost candidates. 

Originally passed in 1995 and updated in 1997, the law demands that all political parties must have 30% female representation among their candidates and must allocate at least 30% of electoral funds towards women candidates. (In Brazil, political parties are publicly funded, and distribution of public funds is related to each party’s parliamentary representation). 

What we’ve witnessed in the last two elections has been a high number of ghost candidates — women who were registered as candidates by political parties only to fulfill the gender quota but don’t actually run for election. 

Click here to read the full article published by Brazil Reports on 1 October 2022.