RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s Prosecutor General Augusto Aras said he had opened a preliminary investigation against the country’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, to examine whether there were irregularities in some of the president’s statements about electronic ballot boxes during a live broadcast.
In late July, during one of his weekly live social media appearances, Bolsonaro expressed suspicions about the country’s electronic voting system, which he called “fraudulent,” without providing any supporting evidence.
Aras’s decision follows two requests by Supreme Court Justice Carmen Lúcia for Aras to take action on the matter after a group of parliamentarians filed a complaint with the Supreme Court.
In early August, several opposition deputies accused Bolsonaro of administrative abuse for allegedly carrying out election propaganda in his July 21 live broadcast. According to the deputies, the president also committed economic abuse of power and abuse of office.
In his response to the judge, Aras said he would conduct a preliminary investigation to verify the reported facts and analyze possible criminal practices that would justify the request for a formal investigation.
According to the attorney general, the parliamentarians’ requests should be held in abeyance because investigations into the matter are already underway.
Bolsonaro, who seeks re-election in the 2022 elections, has been criticizing the electoral system for weeks, which is why the Supreme Court and the Electoral Tribunal have already opened several investigations against the president.