Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro may be closer to being rendered ineligible for public office after the country’s electoral ombudsman, Justice Benedito Gonçalves, asked the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) to schedule a trial against the former head of state.
Mr. Bolsonaro faces a total of 16 cases in the TSE, each related to his alleged abuse of political power. A conviction of any of the cases would nix the former president’s plans to run for office in the next eight years.
Complaints filed by the Democratic Labor Party (PDT) say Mr. Bolsonaro abused position as president by using official communication channels to baselessly cast doubt on Brazil’s electoral system.
Although Brazil is one of few countries in the world to use a fully digital voting system, there have been no credible reports of fraud since its widespread implementation nearly 30 years ago.
Mr. Bolsonaro has for years called shenanigans with regard to the electronic voting system that elected him several times as a congressman and once as president, in 2018. Indeed, he alleged, without proof, that hackers interfered with his presidential victory, arguing that he won despite the alleged fraud. Mr. Bolsonaro has repeatedly insisted that introducing printed paper receipts is the only way to save the Brazilian electoral system.
As a prominent career politician, Mr. Bolsonaro’s claims took hold among conservative pundits and far-right media outlets. They were also echoed among his supporters during the January 8 Brasília riots.
Each account of electoral fraud has been disproven by independent security experts and fact checking agencies, supporting the PDT’s electoral complaints.
In February of this year, electoral justices admitted into evidence a draft of a putschist decree found in the home of Jair Bolsonaro’s former justice minister. The decree aimed to place electoral courts under a state of emergency and create a committee with the power to nullify the presidential election results — which would be blatantly unconstitutional.
The exact day of Mr. Bolsonaro’s electoral trial remains unclear, though news website UOL reported June 12 as a likely date. With two electoral justices newly appointed by current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Mr. Bolsonaro faces the real possibility of being ruled ineligible for office.
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