Brazil’s SAO PAULO – After being disqualified from entering public office until 2030 by Brazil’s federal electoral court, TSE, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s political career took a serious hit.
During the 2016 elections, Bolsonaro was found guilty of abusing his position of authority and misusing the media.
The 68-year-old far-right nationalist was found guilty by the electoral court on Friday, June 30, 2023, with the support of five of the court’s seven judges.
The conviction was related to Bolsonaro’s actions in July 2022, before the election, when he made false allegations regarding Brazil’s electronic voting system during a conference with diplomats.
Bolsonaro, who was defeated by his leftist adversary Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the October 2022 election, is severely hampered by this decision.
Bolsonaro has been under fire in Brazil for instigating a campaign to annul the election results, which led to a disorderly invasion of the government complexes in Brasilia on January 8 by tens of thousands of his followers.
In his majority ruling, Judge Benedito Goncalves said that Bolsonaro had “raised doubts and incited conspiracy theories” while in office.
The head of TSE at the time and well-known Bolsonaro foe Judge Alexandre de Moraes endorsed the majority decision. He said that during his “radical” address to the ambassadors, Bolsonaro disseminated a “chain of falsehoods and phoney news.”
This choice eliminates Lula’s biggest rival from the race for president in 2026 and is expected to have a big influence on Brazilian politics.
Lula da Silva supporters rejoiced at the decision.
“Several key signals emerge from the TSE trial: lying is not an acceptable instrument for executing a public role and politics is not regulated by the law of the jungle,” Justice Minister Flavio Dino tweeted on Friday, June 30, 2023.
The democracy has passed the most difficult stress test in decades.
Despite Bolsonaro’s denial of any wrongdoing and the promise from his legal team to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, insiders say it is doubtful that the appeal would be successful.
Bolsonaro responded to the judgement by calling it a “stab in the back” and declaring that he would keep pushing for the development of right-wing politics in Brazil.
Bolsonaro is now the subject of many criminal investigations that might lead to his incarceration in addition to the TSE judgement.
