Brazil: Bolsonaro banned from elections for 8 yrs

By a vote of 5 to 2, the Supreme Electoral Court of Brazil has decided to exclude former President Jair Bolsonaro from standing for public office for the next eight years.

After an investigation, it was determined that Mr. Bolsonaro had abused his position in the run-up to the presidential election in 2017.

He was accused of harming Brazilian democracy by making false claims that the electronic ballots that were utilized were subject to hacking and fraud. This accusation was made against him.

It is anticipated that Mr. Bolsonaro’s legal team would file an appeal against the ruling.

They have contended that his words had no influence whatsoever on the outcome of the election.

The prohibition dates all the way back to the presidential election, which took place on October 2, 2022.

If the conviction is not overturned, Mr. Bolsonaro will not be able to participate in the race for president that will take place in 2026, but he will be able to run again in the election that will take place in 2030.

Additionally, he will be disqualified from participating in the upcoming municipal elections in 2024 and 2028.

Mr. Bolsonaro referred to the decision as a “stab in the back” and stated that he will continue his efforts to push right-wing politics in Brazil.

The prosecution’s case against the former president centered on a speech that the defendant delivered while he was still in office in the year 2022.

On the 18th of July, he summoned foreign diplomats to his mansion in the capital city of Brasilia, where he made the bogus assertion that the electronic voting machines that are used in Brazil are vulnerable to being hacked and susceptible to large-scale fraud.

In his defense, Mr. Bolsonaro stated that he “simply explained how elections work in Brazil” and that he did not criticize or attack the electoral system in any way.

However, the address took place in the midst of a divisive presidential campaign, in which Mr. Bolsonaro was being challenged for the top position by his bitter political adversary, the left-leaning Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Lula was victorious in the election’s contentious runoff, which took place on the 30th of October and was decided by an incredibly slim margin.

Mr. Bolsonaro never publicly acknowledged his defeat in the election and fled Brazil for Florida two days before Lula was ushered in as president.

On January 8, his supporters, who were adamant that they would not accept the results of the election, attacked the Brazilian Congress, the Presidential Palace, and the building that houses the Supreme Court.