São Paulo.- The Workers’ Party (PT), a group led by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, filed a complaint this Wednesday before the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) against senator and presidential pre-candidate Flávio Bolsonaro for questioning the reliability of electronic voting machines.
According to local media reports, the PT, through the Brazil of Hope Federation, the ruling coalition it forms together with the Green Party (PV) and the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), accused the Liberal Party (PL) pre-candidate and other right-wing leaders before the TSE of orchestrating an “articulated disinformation movement” against the electronic voting system.
The legal representation maintains that the senator’s recent statements threaten the credibility of the institutions and have the potential to cause “informational disorder.”
The lawsuit also includes prominent figures of Bolsonarism, such as deputies Julia Zanatta and Gustavo Gayer, as well as former parliamentarian Eduardo Bolsonaro, who has been in exile in the United States since the beginning of last year.
Actions are requested from social media platforms
In the judicial filing, the party requests the immediate removal of the social media posts identified on the defendants’ accounts and the payment of a fine of 30,000 reais (about 6,000 dollars) by each person involved for each post disseminated.
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Furthermore, they request that the TSE ask the main social media platforms to adopt measures to prevent the circulation, dissemination, or monetization of content in any format that associates Brazilian ballot boxes with the company Smartmatic, or other allegations of this type.
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The plaintiffs clarified that, at this initial stage, the action does not seek a formal investigation into the abuse of political and media power, but rather to neutralize the spread of false data.
The judicial appeal was motivated by the statements made by Flávio Bolsonaro the day before during a meeting with diplomats from more than forty countries and representatives of international organizations, in Brasília.
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In that meeting, the senator stated that the Brazilian machines shared an origin with the ballot boxes from the Venezuelan firm Smartmatic and mentioned an alleged CIA report on supposed irregularities in the Venezuelan elections.
Bolsonaro denies questioning the electoral process
In a note sent to local media, the senator’s advisory office denied that the pre-candidate had questioned the Brazilian electoral process.
“In his speech, which is very brief on this point, pre-candidate Flávio Bolsonaro expressly states that ‘he is not questioning the Brazilian voting system’ and urges the diplomats present there to send the largest possible number of representatives on international observation missions,” the document reads.
Likewise, the note clarifies that Bolsonaro’s pre-campaign team “reaffirms its full confidence in the Brazilian electoral system and its unrestricted belief that international observation missions should be strongly encouraged, as they contribute to the improvement of the electoral process by increasing transparency, integrity, and public trust in the elections.”
EFE sought to speak with Bolsonaro’s campaign team, but has not yet received a response.
With this action, the legislator repeated an episode similar to the one carried out by his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently under house arrest for his role in the coup attempt of January 2023.
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It was precisely a similar event with ambassadors in 2022 that led to the TSE’s conviction of the former president to eight years of political disqualification.
