Court revokes term of Rio governor on grounds of power abuse

The Rio de Janeiro Electoral Court announced on Wednesday its decision to revoke the term of Rio de Janeiro state governor Luiz Fernando Pezao and Vice-Governor Francisco Dornelles for abuse of economic and political power.

The court understood that the governor and vice-governor abused their power by conceding benefits to private companies in exchange for campaign donations. According to Marco Couto, one of the Electoral Court judges, "million-dollar contracts were signed in exchange for donations."

With the decision, the two politicians are deemed ineligible and their term is suspended. However, the decision is only valid when there are no more appeals allowed in the case. So far, it is a first round decision and the governor and vice-governor retain their jobs while the appeal is judged.

Pezao and Dornelles already stated they will appeal the decision as soon as it is officially published. They have three days to appeal from the decision.

The court order also determines that new elections for governor, which will also only occur when the appeal is judged, are held in the state.

As the governor's term is already in its final half, it remains unclear whether the election would be direct or indirect, with the members of the State Assembly electing a new leader for the rest of Pezao's term, which ends in December 2018. Enditem