The Supreme Electoral Court (TSE), Brazil’s highest court, is expected to strip former President Jair Bolsonaro of his voting rights for eight years this Friday. The former ruler is on trial for abuse of power over a meeting he called with ambassadors from 40 countries last year at the height of his presidential campaign to expose alleged electoral fraud without any evidence.
Of the seven judges who make up the TSE plenary session, four have already voted: three in favor of disqualifying Bolsonaro and one against. It only takes one of the three remaining magistrates to vote for disqualification, so that Jair Bolsonaro’s project to return to the presidency has to be abandoned or at least postponed until 2030.
And the prospects for the former ruler are not at all bright, as of the three judges due to vote this Friday, two are clearly critical of his performance as head of state. Judge Carmen Lucía, the first to vote this Friday, has already made it clear that she considers Bolsonaro’s meeting with the ambassadors an electoral crime, and the other judge who should vote for disqualification is none other than Alexandre de Moraes, President of the TSE and, like Carmen , a member of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), where he presides over several lawsuits against the former president for attacks on democracy and institutions.
Bolsonaro’s only hope of minimizing the negative effects of the trial is Cassio Nunez Marquez, who he appoints to the STF and usually makes decisions in favor of the defendants. Bolsonaro has already publicly stated that he expects Marquez to ask for a review, i.e. more time to analyze the process, which will delay the trial for up to 60 days, even knowing that this will not change the negative result, he just usually adds that it will give he has more time to show the Brazilians that he is innocent.
This Friday’s session, the last one before the July public holiday, is due to start at 16:00 Portuguese time and has no end time. In addition to this process, which is now entering its final phase, the TSE also has 15 other cases against Jair Bolsonaro for a variety of electoral crimes, as he attacked everything and everyone in an attempt to get re-elected one last time. year of presidential elections, which he did not get.
Author: Domingos Grilo Serrinha This Correspondent in Brazil
Source: CM Jornal
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