Ex-president Jair Bolsonaro is threatened with an eight-year ban on politics. According to the prosecutor, he tried to undermine the reliability of the election authorities.
Today, Brazil’s highest electoral court is considering whether the country’s former president was guilty Jair Bolsonaro abuse of power.
Before last year’s presidential election, Bolsonaro made unsubstantiated claims to foreign diplomats, in which he questioned the functioning and correctness of the entire voting system. He also claimed that the result of the 2018 election was rigged even though he had won the election. According to the prosecutor, Bolsonaro thus misused his position as president and tried to undermine the reliability of the election authorities.
The matter is decided by a group of seven judges with a majority decision. If Bolsonaro, 68, is found guilty, he will be banned from political activity for eight years. That would mean he could not run in the next two presidential elections.
The issuing of a decision in the matter may take until Thursday.
Questioning the election result caused riots
The right-wing Bolsonaro lost last year’s election to the left Luiz Inacio to Lula da Silva.
In January, thousands of Bolsonaro’s supporters stormed the presidential palace, congressional premises and the Supreme Court, breaking windows and furniture, destroying art and writing demands for a military coup on the walls. Bolsonaro’s own actions have been considered part of the reason for this.
Criminal investigations have been opened into the riot, and it also prompted numerous Brazilians to march in the streets to defend democracy.