Justice Dias Toffoli of Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) has pulled the review of Renan Santos's presidential candidacy from the court's docket, citing "signs of irregularities" in how his ticket reported its social media accounts. In an order signed on Saturday, Aug. 29, Toffoli, the justice assigned to report on the case, removed the matter just before the court's virtual plenary was set to begin judging it on Monday, Aug. 31.
Toffoli noted that Santos and his running mate, Aroldo Medina, informed the court on Aug. 19 of a total of 18 social media profiles, as a supplement to the candidacy filing submitted on Aug. 7. In his reading, this suggests a breach of rules that require candidates to declare, at the moment of registration, the electronic addresses they will use for campaign advertising. Registration is the step that validates a candidacy before votes can be cast for it.
"It is found that, in petitions filed on 8/19/2026, the candidates on the ticket, Renan Antônio Ferreira dos Santos and Aroldo Medina, reported a total of 18 social media profiles, as a supplement to the registration information submitted to the Electoral Court on 8/7/2026. Given that there are, in the candidates' registration, signs of irregularities (...), I order the removal of the case from the judgment docket"
The order cites Article 57-B of Law 9.504/1997, Brazil's Elections Law, and two TSE resolutions: 23.609/2019, which governs candidacy registration, and 23.610/2019, on internet campaign advertising. Under those rules, profiles created before the campaign that were not declared at registration can only be used in electoral advertising 48 hours after they are reported to electoral authorities. The removal from the docket is a procedural step: it postpones judgment so the alleged signs can be examined, and it is not a ruling on the merits of the candidacy.
Background
Santos, 42, is a businessman and activist making his first run for president. He leads the Free Brazil Movement (MBL), which he helped found in 2014 during the protests that pushed for the impeachment of then president Dilma Rousseff. His party, Missão, was created in 2025. His platform includes replacing Brazil's consolidated labor code with direct negotiation between employers and workers, abolishing the labor courts and a constitutional amendment for radical spending cuts, according to news site G1.
The case file moved quickly: the registration request was filed with the TSE on Aug. 7; the supplement listing the 18 profiles arrived on Aug. 19; on Saturday, Aug. 29, Toffoli signed the order removing the case from the docket, two days before the judgment was set to start. Neither G1 nor Metrópoles reported a public response from the campaign by publication time, and no new date for the judgment has been announced. The registration remains pending, and at this stage there is no finding of wrongdoing: the court is weighing indications, not a conviction.