Defense Minister requests ‘urgent’ access to data available for months

Brazil’s Defense Minister Paulo Sérgio Nogueira made an “urgent” request to the Superior Electoral Court for data that has been available for around ten months. In a letter submitted to the court on Monday, Mr. Nogueira requested access to the source codes of electronic voting machines.

In October 2021, the court made the source codes available for several institutions to consult. These range from researchers to political parties and also include the Armed Forces. For most of them, access is granted inside the headquarters of the electoral authority. Several institutions have already sent representatives to inspect the source codes, including the Prosecutor General’s Office, a federal university, and the Senate.

Mr. Nogueira requested that the electoral court host a delegation of military officers between August 2 and 12. The Defense Ministry told The Brazilian Report that the letter was classified as “urgent” because Election Day is in two months.

Prior to 2021, the Armed Forces had never before expressed an interest in inspecting the electoral system. They only started doing so last year, under the auspices of President Jair Bolsonaro — who has, for years, tried to sow distrust in the electronic system used for almost three decades without any case of fraud being recorded.

A week ago, the Defense Minister pledged to abide by the Inter-American Democratic Charter — a 2001 document in which countries of the Americas commit to “maintaining and strengthening the democratic system in the region.” But his actions go counter to this.

Mr. Nogueira told a Senate committee in July that the Armed Forces will “go until the end” on what he called a “mission” to improve the transparency and safety of the upcoming election. In June, he refused to tell lawmakers whether the Armed Forces would accept the election’s results.

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