A (in)capacidade do estado no exercício primário da cidadania: o direito ao voto do preso provisório na Paraíba

Abstract

Voting is a constitutional right derived from popular sovereignty; it is the most relevant expression of citizenship. The guarantee of this right to provisional prisoners comes in particular from the principle of presumption of innocence. In the Constitution, only the convicted prisoner with finality has his political rights suspended while the effects of the conviction last, however, most states, notably Paraíba, disregard this constitutional provision. Citizens arrested as a result of provisional prisons have suppressed their right to vote for incapacity and lack of state interest. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the (in) effectiveness of provisional prisoners‟ right to vote, with emphasis in the State of Paraíba. In the course of the chapters, it was sought to make explicit the right to vote as essential to the Democratic State. It presented citizenship as a source of ownership of political rights while exposing its main constitutional aspects. The chapters also sought to describe the right to vote and its main form of exercise, which is a vote, as well as the hypotheses of deprivation of political rights. It was also a question of provisional prisons in the Brazilian legal system, the possibility of coexistence with the principle of presumption of innocence, and of the other principles that guide them. In addition, the guarantees relating to the provisional prisoners were considered. Finally, we considered the State's (in) capacity in the primary exercise of citizenship - the vote - of the provisional prisoners, the conjuncture of this right after the Constitution and it‟s (in) effectiveness in the national scope, specifically in Paraíba. The deductive method was utilized as a method of approach, in regards to the problem and the technical procedures, quantitative and documentary researches were used respectively, since data and information were weighed in order to demonstrate the reality of the voting rights of those who were temporarily imprisoned, especially those imprisoned in Paraíba. From the point of view of the objectives, a bibliographical research was conducted in books, articles, news, legislation and jurisprudence relevant to the topic. Thus, it was concluded that the State has proven itself incapable of effecting provisional prisoners with the right to vote, excluding them from the primary exercise of citizenship rights, violating the democratic principle, the presumption of innocence and the dignity of the human person.