BRASILIA, June 30 (Reuters) – Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro’s political career appeared all but dead on Friday as the country’s federal electoral court appeared poised to conclude a trial that could leave him ineligible for public office for nearly a decade
If a majority of the seven judges on the Brasilia court find that he abused his power by summoning ambassadors to make unsubstantiated claims about Brazil’s voting system ahead of last year’s vote, Bolsonaro will be deemed ineligible to hold public office until 2030
So far, three judges have voted to convict the far-right nationalist of abuse of political power and misuse of the media, while one has not.
Judges Carmen Lucia, Nunes Marques and Alexandre de Moraes are expected to deliver their votes as the court resumes the trial at 12:00 local time (15:00 GMT).
The main justice in the case, Benedito Goncalves, voted earlier this week to leave the former president ineligible for eight years, saying he had “taken advantage of the meeting with the ambassadors to spread doubts and incite conspiracy theories”.
Bolsonaro, a former army captain who narrowly lost the October election to leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is accused of creating a national movement to overturn the election result that culminated in the invasion of January 8 of the government buildings in Brasília by thousands of his supporters. .
He denies any wrongdoing and has said he would appeal to the Supreme Court if the electoral tribunal, or TSE, finds him guilty.
“I did not attack the voting system; I only showed its possible flaws,” Bolsonaro said in an interview with the Itatiaia station on Friday. “This judgment makes no sense.” (Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Writing by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
