Since its foundation, Pacto pela Democracia has worked to qualifying the electoral process in every election year. Between 2021 and 2022, our focus was on combating disinformation against the electoral system in Brazil. Thus, we encouraged people's participation in the election and supported civil society initiatives aimed at promoting free and fair elections. In the midst of such an unfavorable atmosphere – and when the integrity and quality of democracy that should guide an electoral process were at risk – the efforts undertaken by the Pacto network proved effective in creating productive spaces for dialogue and promoting a more participatory, more representative, and therefore more democratic society in our country.
Pact for Democracy Relaunches the Eleições Melhores [Better Elections] Platform
The Eleições Melhores Platform is a website that has brought together more than 110 initiatives by civil society organizations seeking to improve the Brazilian electoral process. Launched during the 2018 elections and updated annually, the project aims to widely publicize the work of these organizations, connecting them and thus enhancing the electoral process. The platform has organized the different initiatives into seven interest categories:
The platform had a significant launch event at Minhocão Park in São Paulo (SP). On the occasion, representatives from several organizations that are part of the Pacto's network were present. After years of remote work, they had the opportunity to take to the streets and share with the public their initiatives to defend and improve elections across the country.
Combating disinformation about the Electoral System and promoting participation in elections
Since the 2018 elections, Bolsonaro and his supporters have waged an intense campaign to discredit and weaken Brazil's democratic institutions and electoral system. In 2021, a year before the general elections, Pacto pela Democracia launched a campaign against disinformation on Brazil's voting system. The aim was to counter Bolsonaro's full-throated attack on the electronic voting system. Therefore, our network emphasized the importance of not undermining confidence in the integrity of Brazil's current voting system, which is world-renowned for its quality and credibility.
The Pacto network worked hard to counter misinformation in the public debate since Bolsonaro supporters were spreading conspiracy theories about electronic voting machines and using the printed vote debate to undermine confidence in the upcoming elections. Our first step was to establish a dialogue with the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) to decide on the best cooperation strategy for us to react to the Constitution Amendment Proposal that sought to return to a paper ballot system.
From then on, the Electoral Court and civil society began to actively and systematically share all the content produced both by the Superior Electoral Court itself and by organizations in our network, in an attempt to disprove the profusion of false information on the printed vote debate. We also began to build a legislative advocacy strategy focused on ensuring that the parliamentary commission deciding whether this amendment was valid or not would consist of a majority of members committed to safeguarding democracy – and, therefore, favorable to its rejection.
In August 2021, the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) regarding a return to a paper ballot system was rejected by the Chamber of Deputies. Even after the victory of the campaign against this parliamentary amendment, we have continued our efforts to spread informative content in defense of Brazil's electoral system throughout 2022. In addition, the content-sharing partnership with the Superior Electoral Court has been intensified, reinforcing even more the dissemination of reliable and relevant information on this topic.
With the start of the electoral year in 2022, multiple initiatives have been created to encourage Brazilian youth to register to vote for the first time. Many of these campaigns were created by civil society organizations that are members of the Pacto network. On social media and in the streets, the Campaign for Youth Voting promoted a huge mobilization for electoral participation throughout the country, which had massive repercussions in the press and led to a record increase in new voter registrations among young people aged 15 to 18.
