Brazil’s electoral ombudsman, Benedito Gonçalves, on Thursday read his report on the petition accusing Jair Bolsonaro of abusing his former office as president to sow distrust in the electoral system. If convicted by the seven-member court, Mr. Bolsonaro would be barred from holding public office for eight years.
Chief Electoral Justice Alexandre de Moraes adjourned the trial until Tuesday before any justice could vote on whether to convict Mr. Bolsonaro.
The trial centers on allegations filed last year by the center-left Democratic Labor Party (PDT), whose candidate Ciro Gomes finished fourth in the 2022 presidential election.
The PDT filed a request last August to prevent Mr. Bolsonaro from running for re-election. The party argued that as president, Mr. Bolsonaro was in a unique position to invite foreign diplomats to his residence, one not enjoyed by rival candidates.
He abused this power, the petition added, to promote his campaign platform, which included attacks on the integrity of the election itself, using public television in the process.
During the meeting with foreign diplomats, then-President Bolsonaro said he was questioning the electoral process before the vote “because we still have time to solve the problem, with the participation of the Armed Forces, which were invited by the Superior Electoral Court [to participate in security checks of the voting system].”
Back when he presided over Brazil’s top electoral court, Supreme Court Justice Luís Roberto Barroso did indeed invite the military to participate in a transparency commission,...
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