The São Paulo Regional Electoral Court (TRE-SP) on Tuesday (25) reversed, by 5 votes to 1, one of the rulings that had barred businessman Pablo Marçal from holding elected office for eight years. The court threw out a lawsuit brought by the PSB party and dismissed accusations of abuse of power and misuse of media during the 2024 campaign, when Marçal ran for mayor of São Paulo for the PRTB party, according to G1 and CNN Brasil.
The decision does not change Marçal's electoral status. He is running for president in 2026, according to CNN Brasil, and remains ineligible because of another conviction, upheld by the same court in December 2025 in the case of a so-called "clip contest" that promoted videos of the candidate on social media. An appeal to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Brazil's top electoral court, is still possible.
The case judged on Tuesday was filed by the PSB's São Paulo municipal branch, which listed ten alleged irregularities in the mayoral race. The lower court upheld two of them: social media posts questioning the electoral process and the impartiality of the electoral courts, along with attacks on opponents, and a campaign website that, according to the accusation, encouraged voters to print campaign materials and bypass fundraising and spending rules.
Judge Regis de Castilho, whose vote was followed by the majority, ruled that Marçal's statements did not threaten the work of the electoral courts.
"There is dissatisfaction and the exercise of the right to speak out about how the Judiciary works. There is nothing in the legal system, including the Federal Constitution, that bars criticism of the Judiciary, just as the Legislative and the Executive branches can be widely criticized. Court decisions can, indeed, be criticized," the judge said, according to CNN Brasil.
Castilho was joined by appellate judges Roberto Maia and Mairan Maia Junior and judges Cláudia Bedotti and Danyelle Galvão. The case's original rapporteur, Judge Cláudio Langroiva, voted to keep the conviction and lost. In his view, Marçal's statements went beyond free speech by spreading false information and attacking democratic institutions. According to G1, Langroiva said the use of terms such as "dictatorship" and "censorship," combined with the candidate's reach on social media, could undermine trust in the electronic voting system. On the printing website, both judges agreed there was not enough evidence of irregular fundraising or spending, or of abuse of economic power.
Other cases
In November 2025, the TRE-SP had already reversed another ineligibility ruling against Marçal, in a lawsuit filed by the PSB and by then mayoral candidate Guilherme Boulos. That case investigated the suspected sale of endorsements to city council candidates in exchange for payments via Pix, Brazil's instant payment system. Follow-up appeals were rejected in February, and the case now awaits a special appeal at the TSE, according to CNN Brasil.
The conviction that keeps Marçal ineligible, over the "clip contest" that encouraged the production and sharing of videos with his statements, was upheld by the court in December 2025, along with a R$ 420,000 fine for disobeying a court order. A further appeal was rejected on August 5. The next step in that case is a pending appeal to the TSE. Tuesday's ruling can also be appealed.