Bolsonaro returns to office after 20 days of confinement at Presidential Palace

On Wednesday, November 23, 2022, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (Liberal Party – PL, right) left the Alvorada Palace, the official presidential residence, to dispatch at the Planalto Palace, the official seat of government.

It was the first time in 20 days that he had left his home for his usual place of work since the Brazilian presidential elections.

Bolsonaro had been to the presidential office twice since the end of the election on October 30. One day after his alleged defeat, on October 31, he was at the site.

Then, on November 3, he greeted vice-president-elect Geraldo Alckmin (PSB) in a quick meeting.

With the result of the 2022 elections, Bolsonaro became the first head of the executive branch to attempt reelection as President of the Republic and lose.

The Brazilian Superior Electoral Court (TSE) declared Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers’ Party – PT, left) this year’s election’s winner.

After the military dictatorship, it has been 32 years of direct presidential elections. Reelection only began in 1997, after a constitutional amendment.

After that, three attempts at reelection to the presidency were successful: Fernando Henrique Cardoso (PSDB) in 1998, Lula da Silva (PT) in 2006, and Dilma Rousseff (PT) in 2014.

On Wednesday, November 23, security guards called supporters of the president to the reserved space inside the presidential residence. A speech was expected. But Bolsonaro left at 8:50 AM without speaking to the group.

In recent weeks, the current president has avoided talking to voters. He restricted his appointments to meetings with family members, close ministers, and close allies.

On November 23, Bolsonaro’s only official commitment is a meeting with Rogério Marinho (PL-RN), senator-elect and former minister, at the Planalto Palace, at 11:30 AM.

REPORT AGAINST BALLOT BOXES

Bolsonaro left the Alvorada Palace one day after his organization questioned more than half of the electronic ballot boxes used in this year’s elections in the TSE.

Valdemar Costa Neto’s PL party sought to guarantee Jair Bolsonaro’s permanence in the presidency without putting at risk the 99 federal deputies and the eight senators elected in 2022.

BUG IN THE BALLOT BOX DOES NOT PREVENT AUDITING, SAYS USP RESEARCHER

In the request made to the Court, the legend tries to invalidate votes recorded in the runoff in 279,000 ballot boxes, indicating alleged irregularities in equipment used in the dispute.

It does not say, however, that the same ballot boxes were used to elect the congress members who guaranteed the PL the largest number of seats in the House starting in 2023.

On Tuesday, November 22, the party questioned alleged irregularities in five of the six ballot box models (the 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2015 models) used in the runoff without mentioning that the devices were also used in the first round.

Only the 2020 model (192,000 of the 472,000 ballot boxes used in the runoff) escaped the request sent to the TSE.

To request the annulment, the party uses a “bug” involving the “log” files of the older model ballot boxes, which contain the city code, the zone, and the electoral section.

The problem, however, can be solved with a simple data cross-check, according to professor and researcher Marcos Simplício, from the Department of Computer Engineering and Digital Systems of the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo.

Federal Supreme Court (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes, president of the TSE, has already displeased the legend on his first move in the case.

He said that the party could not contest the validity of the ballot boxes in only one of the voting rounds “under penalty of rejection of the initial.”

In other words, the magistrate says that to question the runoff elections, the PL must also contest the regularity of the first round of the 2022 elections. He gave the party 24 hours to do so.

“The electronic ballot boxes pointed out in the initial petition were used in both the first round and the runoff of the 2022 elections.

“Thus, under penalty of dismissal of the initial petition, the plaintiff must add to the initial petition so that the request covers both rounds of the elections within 24 hours,” said Moraes.

With information from Poder360