RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Superior Electoral Court (TSE) magistrate Luís Felipe Salomão, on Monday, June 21, ordered President Jair Bolsonaro and other officials, who have stated that there was fraud in the electronic ballot boxes in 2018, to provide evidence and information to support their claims.
In addition, in the order signed by Salomão, an administrative proceeding was opened to investigate the existence of concrete elements that may have compromised “the regularity of previous elections.”
Bolsonaro has repeatedly claimed, albeit providing no evidence, that there was fraud in the 2018 election, which he won. According to the president, he should have won in the first round.
On June 9, he reiterated his claim in a religious service in Anápolis (GO).
“I was elected in the first round. I have material evidence of this, but the system, the fraud in place, placed me in the second round,” he said. “Other things happened and I only won because I had many votes and few people who knew how to prevent or inhibit fraud at that time.”
Back in March 2020, the president was speaking of fraud and vowed that he would produce evidence “soon.” However, Bolsonaro has never presented any kind of evidence, despite being urged to do so by TSE judges.
Last Thursday, during his weekly live stream, Bolsonaro said that Brazil could experience social unrest should the printed vote for electronic ballot boxes not be adopted for next year’s elections.