Opinion: Justice who systematically attacks Bolsonaro appointed as Electoral Court president in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (Opinion) The plenary of Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) unanimously elected Justice Alexandre de Moraes, rapporteur of several cases against Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro’s most aggressive opponent is now the one overseeing the elections in October. Be prepared for backlash.

The appointment of Moraes is downplayed as a routine formality carried out by the Supreme Court. But don’t be fooled. It is a hostile act disguised as a routine matter.

Those who act this way do not want peace but seek unrest and confrontation.

It is an unnecessary and dangerous provocation, indicating that the STF is no longer a neutral body but an activist in the struggle for power in the largest economy in Latin America.

De Moraes, who served as Minister of Justice between May 2016 and February 2017 in the government of Michel Temer and current Supreme Court Justice, replaces Justice Edson Fachin and will preside over the TSE until June 2024. The vice president will be Justice Ricardo Lewandowski.

His appointment as head of the Superior Electoral Court comes amid a power struggle between the President and the Federal Supreme Court (STF), which is widely seen as taking unjustified and illegal actions against Bolsonaro to sabotage his re-election.

After his appointment, De Moraes remarked that Brazilian voters “do not deserve the proliferation of hate speeches, of fraudulent news” and said that he would not tolerate ‘personal and digital militias’ attacking democracy in Brazil”.

In other words, De Moraes will not tolerate any point of view contrary to his personal interests and will ensure censorship of dissenting opinions, ending freedom of speech in Brazil.

The new president of the TSE has promised: “efficiency, security, transparency, and respect for popular sovereignty” and yet has refused to install mechanisms to verify the accuracy of the election results, such as implementing printed receipts.

Anyone who dares question the impartiality of the court and the voting machines is automatically accused of being “anti-democratic,” which is contradictory in itself and the opposite of what “democratic” means.

It usually is dictatorships that forbid questioning and free speech.

“With hunger hitting more than 33 million Brazilians, our voters deserve hope, hope in the serious proposals and projects of all candidates. They do not deserve the proliferation of hate speeches, fraudulent news, and the criminal attempt to co-opt through digital militias,” he asserted, reported Europa Press.

One would imagine that such an honest, transparent Justice committed to democracy and the Brazilian people would have no problem granting an auditable election on paper or with a paper receipt from the electronic voting machines.