Elections between the history and the judiciary: analysis of the 1978 elections based on the candidacy registration process of Fernando Henrique Cardoso.
Law history; elections; electoral law; constitutional history.
In the process of Brazilian “distension”, which occurred during the Geisel regime, elections were restricted by laws that made electoral propaganda difficult, inhibited politicians' access to the electorate and challenged some candidacies due to ineligibility. Fernando Henrique Cardoso was trying his first political campaign through MDB, but, because in 1969 he was compulsorily retired by AI-5, his candidacy was challenged before TRE-SP. In this thesis, we study this process in its historical and legal context, from this moment to its ruling by the STF, exploring the legal reasons raised by the suitors and analyzed by the courts, aiming to understand the ideas about electoral law and constitutionalism in those times at the end of Geisel's government.