Brazil’s far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro was barred from running for office again until 2030 on Friday after a panel of judges concluded he abused his power and made no complaints about Brazil’s electronic voting system. baseless suspicion.
The decision upends the 68-year-old’s political future and could eliminate any chance of him returning to power.
The five judges of the country’s top electoral court unanimously found that Bolsonaro used government communication channels to promote his campaign and sow distrust of the vote. Two justices voted against the move.
“This decision will end Bolsonaro’s chances of being president again, and he knows it,” said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at the University of São Paulo-Insper. allies to keep his political capital, but he is unlikely to return to the presidency.”
The case focuses on a meeting on July 18, 2022, in which Bolsonaro Access to government workers, state television and the Presidential Palace in Brasilia Tell foreign ambassadors that the country’s electronic voting system is rigged.
“The facts are beyond dispute,” Supreme Court Justice Carmen Lucia said in the deciding vote that formed the majority.
“The meeting did take place. It was called by the then president. It was public. Everyone checked and never denied that it actually happened,” she said.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Morais said the decision represented a rejection of “populism reborn from the flames of hateful, anti-democratic rhetoric promoting heinous disinformation”.
Speaking to reporters in Minas Gerais state, Bolsonaro lamented that the trial was unfair and politically motivated.
Asked about his next steps, he said: “We will talk to lawyers. Life goes on.” He called the ruling an attack on Brazilian democracy. “It’s a pretty difficult moment.”
Mello said it was “unlikely” that the decision would be overturned. It excludes Bolsonaro from the 2024 and 2028 municipal elections and the 2026 general election. The former president faces other legal troubles, including criminal investigation. A future criminal conviction could extend his ban for years and land him in jail.
Former President Fernando Color de Mello and current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva have been declared ineligible in the past, but Bolsonaro’s case marks the first time a president has been disqualified. Suspension for election violations, not criminal offenses. Brazilian law prohibits sentenced candidates from running for office.
Brazil’s Supreme Court reinstated Lula after then-judge Sergio Moro, now Senator Sergio Moro, sentenced the leftist leader to nearly 10 years in prison on corruption and money-laundering charges in a biased sentence.
Maria Maris, a 58-year-old engineer in Rio de Janeiro, celebrated the ruling but suspected it might be politically motivated.
“I fear that Bolsonaro will appeal and run in the next presidential election, even though he was disqualified today,” Maris said.
Bolsonaro holds ceremonial leadership positions within his Liberal Party and has criticized Lula across Brazil, who won last October’s election by the narrowest margin in more than three decades.
On January 8, a week after Lula came to power, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed government buildings in an attempt to oust the leftist. The swift incarceration and prosecution of hundreds of participants had a chilling effect on their rejection of the election results. Federal police are investigating Bolsonaro’s role in fomenting the uprising; he denies any wrongdoing.
Gleisi Hoffmann, head of the Lula Workers Party, said on her social media channel that Bolsonaro’s disqualification provided a teachable moment.
“The far right needs to know that the political struggle is fought within the democratic process, not through violence and the threat of a coup,” she said. Bolsonaro “will be eliminated because he does not play by the rules. Not only him, but his entire coup gang must follow the same path.”
Marie Santini, coordinator of NetLab, a research group at the Federal University, said the trial had reactivated Bolsonaro’s online base, with supporters claiming he was the victim of an unfair justice system and casting his fate Compare that to the fate of former US President Donald Trump. Rio monitors social media.
Yet that level of engagement pales in comparison to levels seen before last year’s polarizing election.
Katia Caminha, a 67-year-old retiree in Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana neighborhood, broke down after hearing the news that a majority of judges had voted against Bolsonaro. She told The Associated Press that she thought the entire trial was a “clown show.”
“Everything related to the electoral court is biased and against” Bolsonaro. “It’s terrible news for Brazil,” Caminha said.
This week, his supporters said they continued to support him and made donations to help him pay the 1.1 million reais ($230,000) imposed by the Sao Paulo state government for Bolsonaro’s repeated health violations during the COVID-19 pandemic. USD) penalty.
Political analyst Thomas Traumann said that while Bolsonaro aimed to become a champion of the right and his support would have a major impact, his decision to travel to Florida for a few months at the start of Lula’s term weakened his strength. This was reflected in the limited right-wing outrage on social media throughout the eligibility trial, and the absence of signs of protest.
“There won’t be a mass movement because he’s downsized. The fact that he went to Florida and didn’t lead the opposition caused him to downsize,” Trauman said. “The leader of the opposition is clearly not Bolsonaro.”
As the trial drew to a close, a trumpeter standing outside the electoral court played the song that became a hit during last year’s presidential campaign: “It’s time to let Jarr go.”