Brazil’s ex-president Jair Bolsonaro on trial over allegations of election fraud

Last year’s presidential election in Brazil, right-wing leader Bolsonaro lost to left-wing leader Lula da Silva.

In July last year, he invited around 60 ambassadors and raised suspicions that the electoral system was not reliable. The Electoral Court is now examining the incident, as they believe that he abused his office and spread baseless claims.

In an interview with Brazilian CNN Bolsonaro maintains that he is innocent and that rounding up the ambassadors was within his powers.

– He claims that he has not claimed that election fraud is taking place in the country, but that he has disclosed the risks that existed for this to occur, says Tigran Feiler, in Morgonstudion.

– But most people we have met in Brazil, both supporters and opponents, believe that he will be convicted, he continues.

If Bolsonaro is convicted of abuse of power, he will be stopped from participating in all political processes in the country for eight years.

Link to the storming of Congress

In January this year, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace.

There is a separate trial about the storming, but Tigran Feiler believes there is a connection, as the allegations of election fraud were the basis for it.

– It was with that argument that supporters first protested outside military installations and then participated in this very spectacular storming.

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