Today, Lula will regain his political rights, setting up a clash with President Bolsonaro in the 2022 election. The new emergency aid program takes shape. Libertarian Novo party abandons the Bolsonaro ship.
Lula is back in the electoral game. For the time being
Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin ruled to quash all of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s convictions under the scope of Operation Car Wash, ordering cases to go back to square one. With his convictions lifted, one of the most iconic politicians in Brazil’s history will regain his political rights and can run for office once more. While in jail, he led the polls ahead of the 2018 presidential election before his candidacy was barred, after a court of appeals upheld his guilty verdict for corruption and money laundering.
The decision, explained. Justice Fachin’s is not a judgment on Lula’s culpability or the strength of evidence against him. In fact, it states that Lula’s cases should not have been trialed under the scope of Operation Car Wash — and thus, by former federal Judge Moro in Curitiba — as the events were not directly linked to the Petrobras scandal.
- Under Brazilian law, cases are randomly...