Brazil: Bolsonaro 1-0 down at TSE trial
Wednesday, June 28th 2023 - 10:11 UTCFull article0 comments
Case rapporteur Benedito Gonçalves Tuesday voted in favor of convicting former President Jair Bolsonaro in the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) trial for abuse of political power and undue use of the media, Agencia Brasil reported.
The proceedings were then adjourned and will resume Thursday with the votes of Chief Justice Alexandre De Moraes and Justices Raul Araújo, Floriano de Azevedo Marques, André Ramos Tavares, Cármen Lúcia, and Nunes Marques. If three of them join Gonçalves's view, Bolsonaro would be disenfranchised for eight years, which would leave him out of the 2026 presidential race.
The TSE is judging a lawsuit in which the PDT accuses Bolsonaro of abuse of political power and undue use of the media. The PDT is contesting the legality of the meeting the former president held with ambassadors last July at the Alvorada Palace to attack the electronic voting system.
In his rationale, Gonçalves understood that Bolsonaro spread false information to discredit the voting system, using the physical structure of the Alvorada Palace. In addition, the event was broadcast on the social networks of the former president and by TV Brasil, a public television station of the Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (EBC).
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https://en.mercopress.com/2023/06/28/brazil-bolsonaro-1-0-down-at-tse-trial