Democracia representativa e participação das autoridades da justiça na política

Abstract

The research theme is representative democracy and the participation of justice authorities in politics. The aim is to investigate the participation of judges, prosecutors and police delegates as candidates in the electoral process and whether this fact represents an offense against the principle of equality in electoral competitions. It is a descriptive bibliographic survey in which it carries out in its course some interdisciplinary dialogue with other areas of scientific knowledge, mainly between law and political science. The research begins by investigating about representative democracy. Despite various models, the undisputed fact is that the model of representative democracy has become hegemonic in Western countries and the link between its exercise by the people and the act of voting is a reality. It is conceded that the role of the people in democracy is not limited to this, but it is also this. In this context, the principle of equality in electoral competitions gains importance, in the sense that the relevant/valid aspects, which are those that positively influence voters to freely choose their candidates, must be maximized and the irrelevant/invalid factors, that are those that hinder voter freedom, should be minimized. Thus, electoral legislation must rule out situations indicative of abuse of power, because in representative democracy, the vote must be exercised with freedom. The participation of justice authorities as candidates in the electoral process can harm the balance of disputes, as these actors have a relevant share of state power and can practice abusive acts for electoral purposes. A manifestation of such abusive conduct is lawfare, which consists of the strategic use of law for the purpose of delegitimizing, harming or annihilating an enemy. The conclusion is that the existing legal instruments are not able to inhibit the desire of these players to participate in politics and when they practice abusive acts with this goal, there is an offense against the principle of equality in electoral competitions. Minimizing the factors that harm voter freedom is a result of this principle, which is why it is necessary to reflect on a stricter electoral quarantine for such public agents as a way of discouraging them from apply for office.