“Coronelismo, enxada e voto” – presente e passado de abusos de poder no processo eleitoral brasileiro

Abstract

The purpose of the work is to feature the principal concepts of abuse of power in Administrative Law and Electoral Law in order to outline a parallel between abusive actions of the past, characterized by practices like “halter vote”, “degola”, and others, and present actions, in which the will of electors is affected by the influence of actions and behaviors that usually are unnoticed by citizens and even the Electoral Justice. Therefore, the historical context used was that one narrated by Vitor Nunes Leal on the famous book “Coronelismo, Enxada e Voto” in comparison with Brazilian Electoral Justice’s recent jurisprudences about abuse of power.