[1/4]Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro talks to the media at a restaurant, on the day the Electoral Justice continues the trial to determine his political rights, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, June 30, 2023. REUTERS/Washington Alves
BRASILIA, June 30 (Reuters) – Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s political career took a turn for the worse on Friday when Brazil’s federal electoral court (TSE) banned the far-right nationalist from public office until 2030 for his conduct during last year’s tense elections.
Five out of seven justices voted to convict Bolsonaro, 68, of abuse of power and misuse of the media for his actions in July 2022, before the election, when he summoned ambassadors to make unsubstantiated claims about Brazil’s electronic voting system.
His decision represents a stunning reversal for Bolsonaro, an ardent populist who narrowly lost the October vote to leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Many in Brazil blame Bolsonaro for creating a nationwide movement to overturn the result, which culminated in the Jan. 8 invasion of government buildings in Brasilia by thousands of his supporters.
The impact of the electoral court’s ruling is likely to ripple through Brazilian politics, removing Lula’s main foe from contention in 2026 and opening up space among a competitive field on Brazil’s right.
The majority opinion in the trial was written by judge Benedito Goncalves, who said that Bolsonaro used the meeting with the ambassadors to “spread doubt and incite conspiracy theories”. Two conservative-leaning justices dissented.
Judge Alexandre de Moraes, a former adversary of Bolsonaro who now heads the TSE, joined the majority, saying Bolsonaro had spread a “chain of lies and fraudulent news” in his “radical” speech to ambassadors.
Lula’s team celebrated the result.
“Some important messages come from the TSE trial: lying is not a legitimate tool to perform a public function and politics is not governed by the law of the jungle,” Justice Minister Flavio Dino tweeted. “Democracy has passed its toughest stress test in decades.”
Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing and his lawyers have pledged to appeal to the Supreme Court, which sources say is unlikely to succeed.
On Friday, Bolsonaro called the decision a “stab in the back” and said he would continue working to advance right-wing politics in Brazil. However, the decision of the TSE is not the end of Bolsonaro’s problems. He still faces several criminal investigations that could land him behind bars.
WHERE WILL I POCKET?
Although his own hopes of beating Lula in 2026 may be over, Bolsonaro has said he would support his wife, Michelle, as a candidate. It is a political novel, but an avowed evangelical Christian who could win support among a religious right that distrusts Lula.
“‘Our dream is more alive than ever,'” he wrote on Instagram after the ruling. “I am at your command my CAPTAIN.”
And I could still come back. Lula was in prison in 2019, when his corruption conviction was overturned. He is now president.
Analysts at Arko Advice said Bolsonaro still enjoys a lot of political cachet.
“There is still no alternative to the right or center-right with the strength of Jair Bolsonaro,” they wrote in a note to clients. “As a result, the former president remains President Lula’s main antagonist.”
Long behind former US President Donald Trump, Bolsonaro’s time in office was marked by international criticism over his mismanagement of the Amazon rainforest, his laissez-faire approach to COVID- 19 and its unproven attacks on Brazil’s electoral system.
The TSE trial is part of a wider reckoning in Brazil with the aftermath of the country’s most painful election in a generation. As Bolsonaro faced scrutiny from the electoral court, many of his former allies are being questioned by lawmakers in a congressional investigation into the Jan. 8 riots.
Report by Ricardo Brito; Written by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Steven Grattan, Chizu Nomiyama and Rosalba O’Brien
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Gabriel Araujo
