Brazil Election Court Lets Candidates Use Convicted Bolsonaro’s Photo
BRAZIL · ELECTIONS 2026
Election 2026 — full coverage: Dates, polls and candidate profiles · Live results on October 4
Key Facts
- —The country Brazil, a nation of about 213 million people, has Latin America’s largest economy, roughly the size of Italy’s. It votes for president, Congress and state assemblies on Sunday 4 October.
- —Why it matters Former president Jair Bolsonaro was convicted in 2025 of plotting to overturn the 2022 election. He is serving a sentence of 27 years and 3 months under house arrest and cannot run.
- —Why now His son Flávio is the right’s main presidential challenger. A Supreme Court order bars the father from political messages, even through third parties, so his picture on leaflets became a legal fight.
- —What happened On Thursday 24 September the Superior Electoral Court voted 5–2 to lift a colleague’s 16 September ban on a São Paulo candidate’s leaflets showing Bolsonaro.
- —Who is involved Lucas Bove, a Liberal Party state deputy seeking re-election, printed 50,000 leaflets with Bolsonaro beside him. Duda Hidalgo, a Workers’ Party rival, asked for the ban.
- —What it means for you Expect Bolsonaro’s face on leaflets and banners in the final week of the campaign. The ruling changes what campaigns may print, not who is on the ballot.
- —Still open The written judgment has not been published, and the underlying appeal has not been decided on its merits. How far other courts will follow it is unclear.
Brazil’s top electoral court has reversed itself, and candidates may again put a Bolsonaro photo on printed campaign material. The former president is ineligible and serving a prison sentence at home.
The Superior Electoral Court, known as the TSE, voted 5–2 on Thursday 24 September. The majority overturned an order issued eight days earlier by one of its own judges, Estela Aranha, which had banned the leaflets.
What the court decided
The case concerns Lucas Bove, a state lawmaker for the right-wing Liberal Party (PL) who is seeking re-election in São Paulo. According to the complaint, his campaign printed 50,000 small leaflets with Bolsonaro’s face in a prominent spot.
The former president appears beside Bove’s own photo, name and ballot number. Brazilians call these pocket-sized flyers “santinhos,” and candidates hand them out by the thousand.
Bove’s campaign also used upright street banners with the same image.
Five judges voted to lift the ban, led by the court’s president, Kassio Nunes Marques. André Mendonça, Dias Toffoli, Antonio Carlos Ferreira and Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva joined him.
Aranha and Floriano de Azevedo Marques were outvoted. Nunes Marques, who opened the split with Aranha, will write the court’s judgment.
In the majority, Villas Bôas Cueva said leaflets by other candidates are not acts attributable to Bolsonaro himself, according to Poder360.
How a single leaflet reached the top court
The dispute produced four rulings in just over three weeks. On Tuesday 1 September a judge at the São Paulo regional electoral court ordered Bove to stop using the image.
Bove appealed, and on Friday 11 September the regional court’s full panel reversed that order and allowed the material again. Duda Hidalgo, a Workers’ Party (PT) city councillor running for the same state assembly, then took the case to the TSE.
On Wednesday 16 September Aranha, the judge in charge of the case, suspended the regional ruling alone and restored the ban. The full court has now overturned her order, and the regional decision in Bove’s favour stands again.
Why a photograph became a legal question
Brazilian candidates routinely feature party leaders on their leaflets. What makes this different is an order from Alexandre de Moraes, the Supreme Court justice overseeing Bolsonaro’s criminal case.
Moraes barred Bolsonaro from receiving visitors for political purposes and from spreading election-related messages. The order says this applies even when done through third parties.
Aranha read that order broadly. In her view, his picture beside a ballot number tells voters he backs that candidate, sidestepping the Supreme Court.
She found it plausible that the leaflets were a “circumvention” of the Supreme Court order.
The São Paulo regional court and now the TSE majority read it narrowly. For them, the Supreme Court restriction targets Bolsonaro personally, and a photograph chosen by someone else is not a statement by him.
Who sat on each side
Two of the majority, Nunes Marques and Mendonça, were named to the Supreme Court by Bolsonaro. Aranha was named to the electoral court by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The TSE has seven voting members, drawn from the Supreme Court, the Superior Court of Justice and the legal profession. Its composition matters in an election Lula is fighting against Bolsonaro’s eldest son, Flávio, the leading conservative candidate.
Recent polling shows a close race; see Datafolha Poll Shows Brazil’s Presidential Race Tied Weeks Before the Vote. In that setting, a Bolsonaro photo on printed material has real campaign value for conservative candidates.
Part of a wider pattern, and a separate one from AI
The Bove case is not the only one.
On 22 September the regional electoral court in Brasília also backed down. It allowed advertising by former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro that shows her husband.
Local outlet Midiamax reported that Marcos Pollon, a PL federal deputy, was cleared of a similar complaint after the ruling. Brazilian outlets widely read the decision as a green light for candidates nationwide.
The ruling is distinct from the court’s earlier decisions on AI-generated deepfakes and false posts. Those rules are described in Brazil’s Electoral Court Tightens Internet and AI Rules for 2026 Vote.
This one concerns only real photographs printed on paper.
What comes next
The first round is on Sunday 4 October, with any runoff on Sunday 25 October. A Bolsonaro photo is likely to appear on leaflets and banners across the country in the final days.
The ruling does not restore Bolsonaro’s political rights, and it does not let him campaign. It does not change the Supreme Court order that bars him from sending political messages himself, including through others.
It also does not settle whether a candidate may imply Bolsonaro has endorsed them in words. Complaints about spoken or written claims of his support could still be judged differently.
The written judgment has not yet been published, and the underlying appeal has not been decided on its merits. Until it is, the Bolsonaro photo question is settled only provisionally.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can candidates in Brazil now use Jair Bolsonaro’s photo on campaign leaflets?
Yes, according to the electoral court’s 5–2 ruling of 24 September. The case involved one São Paulo candidate, but outlets across Brazil read it as applying to printed material nationwide.
Why was the Bolsonaro photo banned in the first place?
A Supreme Court order bars Bolsonaro from spreading election messages, even through third parties. Judge Estela Aranha said his picture beside a candidate implied an endorsement.
Does this mean Bolsonaro can campaign or run?
No. He remains ineligible and under house arrest, and the ruling only covers his image on other people’s printed material.
When is Brazil’s election?
The first round is on Sunday 4 October 2026. A presidential runoff, if needed, is on Sunday 25 October.
Sources: CNN Brasil, 25 September 2026; Poder360, 24 September 2026; Brasil 247, 24 September 2026; ND Mais, 24 September 2026; Poder360, G1 and Terra, 16 September 2026 (Aranha injunction); O Globo, Estadão and Jovem Pan, 22–23 September 2026 (Brasília regional court); Midiamax, 26 September 2026.
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