Former President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro is banned from running for office until 2030 after the country’s highest electoral court formed a majority vote on Friday.
Current charges of Bolsonaro allegedly abusing his political power and misusing public resources have been at the forefront of this reasoning, with accusations of Bolsonaro spreading false information about Brazil’s electoral system, claiming electronic voting machines could not be trusted. According to CNN, this was a tactic he had used during his reelection campaign.
According to a report from Judge Benedito Goncalves, the former president said in a meeting with ambassadors that the 2022 election results “might be compromised due to fraud, that voting machines changed voters’ choices to benefit his opponent in 2018, and that the Brazilian voting machines are not auditable, and also insinuated that electoral and judicial authorities were protecting terrorists,” all claims denied by Brazil’s electoral authorities.
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“It was just discussed with them [the ambassadors] how the electoral system worked. I didn’t mention the word’ fraud’ there regarding future elections,” Bolsonaro said, adding: “I spoke of the Federal Police inquiry in November 2018 that, to date, has not been concluded. Only that. What is the problem discussing this matter?”
The case began with a lawsuit presented by Brazil’s Democratic Labor Party against both Bolsonaro and Walter Braga Netto, his running mate during the 2022 elections. The majority of judges found Braga, however, not guilty.
While Bolsonaro never conceded defeat in the election, he did not block the transfer of power, instead opting to leave the country for the United States two days before current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s inauguration on January 1.
Bolsonaro plans on appealing the decision.
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