Transparencia Electoral rejects the arbitrariness of Brazil’s Superior Electoral Tribunal in the accreditation of International Election Observation Missions
Buenos Aires, September 9th, 2026
Transparencia Electoral expresses its rejection of the decision by Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) to deny the accreditation request of an International Election Observation Mission for the 2026 general elections. The organization considers this decision arbitrary, lacking sufficient regulatory grounds, and a setback for the transparency and credibility of Brazil’s electoral process.
A Legal Vacuum That Demands Legislative Attention
National and international election observation in Brazil currently lacks legal certainty. There is no law regulating this mechanism—only TSE Resolution No. 23,678 of December 17, 2021, whose margin for interpretation opens the door to discretionary and arbitrary decisions about which missions are accredited and which are rejected. Transparencia Electoral considers it urgent that Brazil’s National Congress discuss incorporating election observation into law as an institutional guarantee, rather than as a concession subject to the shifting criteria of whichever electoral authority happens to be in office.
A Precedent That Disproves Any Technical Justification
The arbitrary nature of this decision is exposed by one concrete fact: the same Superior Electoral Court that rejected Transparencia Electoral’s accreditation for the 2026 electoral process accredited a Transparencia Electoral Election Observation Mission for the 2022 elections, recognizing at that time its track record, independence, and technical capacity. That the same organization, with no substantive change to its institutional nature, should be rejected in 2026 admits no reasonable technical explanation and reinforces the need for clear, stable, and predictable rules.
In addition to this track record, Transparencia Electoral’s competence in observing elections is recognized by dozens of Brazilian electoral authorities and officials who have participated in the Election Observation Missions and in the specialized training and capacity-building programs that the organization has been conducting around the world. It is worth noting that these experiences have been compiled in the recently published book Elections Around the World: The Perspective of International Observers from ABRADEP, CAOESTE, COPEJE, and Transparência Eleitoral, in which members of ABRADEP, CAOESTE, and COPEJE recount their participation in the observation missions carried out by Transparencia Electoral.
A Double Standard That Undermines the Resolution’s Own Foundations
Article 4 of TSE Resolution No. 23,678/2021 establishes that Election Observation Missions are governed, among other things, by the following principles:
“I – adherence to the guiding precepts of Human Rights and fundamental guarantees; II – valuing representative democracy; III – strengthening the democratic process—particularly regarding equal opportunity, the participation of minority groups, the establishment of clear and fair electoral rules, and the guarantee of the election’s security, transparency, and legitimacy.”
It is incompatible with these principles that, while rejecting Transparencia Electoral—a regional organization with a demonstrated track record in promoting democracy and electoral integrity, including in Brazil itself—the TSE accredited the League of Arab States as an observer organization, a body made up of 22 States, of which 18 are classified as authoritarian regimes and 3 as hybrid regimes according to The Economist’s Democracy Index. This contrast raises questions about the criteria actually applied by Brazil’s electoral body when deciding which organizations are admitted and which are not.
Informal Demands Without Regulatory Basis
During the accreditation process, Transparencia Electoral was presented—informally and without any basis in TSE Resolution No. 23,678/2021—with requirements that exceed the current regulatory framework. Among them, the organization was required not to receive the institutional contribution traditionally requested from Mission members, resources that are used entirely to cover the logistical costs of each deployment, such as airfare, lodging, meals, local transportation, training, academic sessions, coordination, and the preparation of observation reports.
It should be clarified that Transparencia Electoral is a civil society organization that, unlike multilateral bodies such as the OAS or the European Union, does not receive funding from member States. For this reason, it asks participants in its missions and programs for this contribution, which makes its election observation and support programs viable, as well as the sustainability of the organization.
Transparencia Electoral was also informally told that its delegation should be reduced, without the TSE specifying a number of members or offering any regulatory grounds for such a limitation. Transparencia Electoral understands this demand to be an overreach of the Court’s authority, without support in the current resolution, and therefore arbitrary.
A Context That Calls for Greater Openness, Not Less
Brazil is on the verge of a highly polarized election, in which various political organizations have raised doubts about the integrity of the electoral process and, in particular, the voting system. This scenario unfolds against a backdrop of public distrust: according to Latinobarómetro, in 2024, 61% of respondents in Brazil considered the elections to be fraudulent, while only 32% viewed them as clean.
In this context, openness on the part of the electoral body toward technical, professional international organizations with a demonstrated track record—including in Brazil itself, as is the case with Transparencia Electoral—is essential to strengthening the credibility of the electoral process. The arbitrary and discretionary criteria applied in accrediting international election observation missions do not help improve that credibility and trust; on the contrary, it weakens it at a moment when it is needed most.
Institutional Call
Transparencia Electoral reaffirms its commitment to technical, independent, and professional election observation throughout Latin America and calls on Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court to review its decision ahead of the runoff election, and on the National Congress to move forward with legal regulation of election observation that provides predictability, transparency, and objectivity to this mechanism essential to democratic health.
Next Steps
In light of the precedents set by the 2005 Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation; the joint statement issued in October 2022 by the UN Special Rapporteurs on the situation of Human Rights Defenders and on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, which recognized national and international election observers as human rights defenders; and Resolution No. 01/2024 of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which reaffirmed that same recognition at the regional level and within the inter-American system, Transparencia Electoral will evaluate filing a petition with the IACHR so that the decision of Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court may be reviewed as a matter of regional relevance for the defense of citizens’ civil and political rights.
This action does not seek to challenge only Transparencia Electoral’s specific case, but rather to help extend and consolidate, within the Inter-American Human Rights System, the recognition and protection of election observation as an institutional guarantee and as a legitimate exercise in the defense of Human Rights and electoral integrity, in line with standards already established by international and regional human rights bodies.
