Brasilia, September 18 (teleSUR-RHC)-- The Supreme Court in Brazil ruled on Thursday in favor of banning businesses from financing electoral campaigns and political parties amid a major corruption scandal that alleges corporations used this mechanism to obtain lucrative contracts with the state-owned oil company Petrobras.      

The Court voted 8-3 in favor of the ruling, which aims to limit the influence of big corporations in politics.  

“The influence of economic power culminates when it converts the electoral process into a political cards game already marked, an odious pantomime that transforms the voter into a puppet, eroding citizenship and democracy with a single blow,” Judge Rosa Weber said.    

The ruling represents a groundbreaking change in the Brazilian political landscape as businesses contributed over 90 percent of the total financing of political candidates in the last presidential elections.         
        
The ban now contradicts a bill passed by Congress last week, which in fact allows corporate financing. President Dilma Roussef might veto the bill, but if this is canceled by Congress, the legislation could turn to the Supreme Court.       

The lawyers association of Brazil presented the case to the Supreme Court in 2013, but it was blocked by a conservative judge until now. The move comes amid a huge corruption scandal alleging that construction and engineering firms paid corrupt officials in order to get lucrative contracts with Petrobras, one of the largest oil companies in the world. The bribes amounted to at least $800 million paid to individuals – but the company has not been able to say exactly how much money it has lost from these transactions.