Bolsonaro insinuates Brazil’s electoral court head wants to favor Lula

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday (29) implied that the president of the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) Luis Roberto Barroso refuses to change the electronic voting system because he intends to favor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in next year’s presidential elections.

In a live broadcast on his social networks, the conservative leader again questioned the reliability of Brazil’s electronic voting system. He raised concerns that fraud could occur and challenged Barroso’s intentions for insisting on rejecting the prospect of reintroducing printed ballots in the country.

“Those who want us to hold dubious elections are the same ones who want the return of the group that has always benefited from corruption and impunity in their government,” the president said, referring to Lula’s intention to run in the presidential elections next October, who governed Brazil from 2003 to 2010.

He added that as a member of the Supreme Court, Barroso was among the Justices who overturned the opposition leader’s two convictions: “The one who got Lula out of jail and allowed him to run again is the same one who will count and verify the votes in the next elections.”

According to Bolsonaro, Barroso not only opposed a verifiable paper ballot system, but also met with several legislators to persuade them to vote against a bill introduced by Bolsonaro to change Brazil’s electoral system.

“Why does the president of the Electoral Court want to question the elections? Why is he interfering with other powers to block us from having a verifiable election? I don’t want to accuse him, but something very strange is at play,” Bolsonaro said.

The president, who invited a group of journalists to his live broadcast because he wanted to hand over the evidence he had of alleged fraud in the last elections, indicated that it would be difficult to prove electoral fraud but assured that he had “very strong indications” of irregularities.

“I have no way to prove whether the elections were rigged or not, but we have very strong indications that something strange happened,” the president said, adding that it is the advocates of electronic voting who are required to prove that the system is secure and reliable.

The attack on the top electoral authority came just hours after Barroso pointed out that there had never been complaints of fraud in electronic voting in three decades, and that Bolsonaro’s criticism was likely due to fear of electoral defeat.

“If I lose the elections, it will be because there was fraud,” the president said confidently.

In addition to sharply criticizing the president of the Electoral Court, Bolsonaro also attacked Lula, his likely rival in the 2022 elections.

“We have recently seen the other side (Lula) congratulating the Cuban government for what it has done to the people (repressing demonstrations). And he had also previously supported (Hugo) Chávez and Nicolás (Maduro). We don’t want this kind of regime in Brazil, where the first thing that will be lost is freedom,” Bolsonaro said.

He added that his opponent advocates a regime that has not worked anywhere in the world, and said that in addition to Cuba and Venezuela, he could mention Argentina, from where people are beginning to flee.

“It’s about freedom. Go to the Venezuelan border and see the thousands of people fleeing misery. The regime that the other side supports and wants to introduce in Brazil is the same that took over an oil-rich country and then plunged it into misery,” he said.

“We cannot accept someone taking the helm of the country and plunging it into chaos, as was the case in other South American countries. Look at Cuba. This person supported Venezuela, supported the return of Cristina Kirchner in Argentina and Evo Morales in Bolivia. Had the other side won, there would be no freedom or respect for private property in Brazil now,” he completed.