Brazil’s electoral court calls for probe into Bolsonaro
Brasilia, Aug 2 (EFE).- Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) on Monday asked the Supreme Court to investigate President Jair Bolsonaro for his apparent smear campaign against the current electronic voting system, whose transparency he has questioned on several occasions.
The plenary of the electoral court unanimously approved a request to the Supreme Court for Bolsonaro to be included in ongoing criminal proceedings to investigate the dissemination of fake news and various attacks on democratic institutions through social media.
The TSE also unanimously decided to open an administrative investigation to determine whether Bolsonaro abused economic and political power, misused media, committed corruption, fraud or displayed inappropriate conduct as a public official through his verbal attacks on electronic ballot boxes.
In recent weeks, Bolsonaro has stepped up his offensive against electronic ballot boxes, which he says are vulnerable to “fraud,” and is pushing for Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to resume paper balloting to complement the current voting system, which has been in place since 1996.
On Monday, the far-right leader said that if electronic voting system is maintained for the 2022 elections, the country will follow in the footsteps of Venezuela and Argentina.
He also declared weeks ago that without a paper ballot, there will be no elections next year.
Bolsonaro, whose popularity is now at its lowest, will seek a second term in next year’s elections, although polls place him behind his biggest political opponent, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2010). EFE
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