:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/grupoclarin/K7TRSBVO3FG7LJ3CJYWLOGDIEE.webp "Jair Bolsonaro could be disabled until 2030")
Jair Bolsonaro begins this Thursday a process that can make him the first former president of Brazil to be disqualified by the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) to participate in elections until 2030 if finally the men in toga determine that the retired military man abused power, when in 2022 he summoned a large group of foreign diplomats to the Planalto Palace to try to convince them of the insecurity of their country’s electoral system.
In July 2022, Bolsonaro, who for months had been questioning the reliability of the Brazilian electoral system, summoned 72 ambassadors and diplomatic personnel to the headquarters of the Federal Government in Brasilia. That event was broadcast by TV Brasil, which is why the former president is accused of abuse of power and fraudulent use of public media.
In that meeting, among other falsehoods, he went so far as to affirm that it was outsourced companies that were in charge of counting the votes and not the systems of the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE), whose judges have reserved three dates to reach an agreement on his disqualification .
In addition to this Thursday, the seven judges that make up the court will have two more sessions, on June 27 and 29, to reach an agreement. However, behind the scenes, there is a fear that one of them, especially Kassio Nunes Marques –appointed by Bolsonaro–, will request more time to analyze the antecedent.
In such a case, the vote within the TSE would be postponed for another 30 days, but as he was on vacation when that deadline expired, the next meeting would not take place until August 22. Even so, another 30-day extension could be requested, but it would already require the endorsement of the president of the court, Alexandre de Moraes.
discouraging hunch
However, it is most likely that when Nunes Marques has his turn to speak, Bolsonaro’s fate will already be cast. Both the former Brazilian president and his closest circle take it for granted that the vote will close with a final six to one against him.
Despite the fact that he was successful on this occasion, the scenario that Bolsonaro has before him is not encouraging, since the TSE has in its drawers another 16 lawsuits against him that could certify his disqualification, such as the one that denounces the creation of a network of misinformation against their rivals, or the abuse of political and economic power for distributing social subsidy programs in the campaign.
There are also three other actions that investigate whether he used the military parades on December 7, 2022 in Rio de Janeiro and Brazil for the Bicentennial of the Independence of Brazil for electoral purposes. Outside the TSE, there is the investigation of the Supreme Court for its alleged intellectual responsibility in the attacks of its followers on the institutions on January 8, 2023.
Without precedents
In the event that the TSE certifies his disqualification for the next elections –presidential in 2026 and local in 2024 and 2028– it would be the first time that a former president is deprived of his electoral rights by decision of this court, although until now it had been on the initiative of the Senate, or other courts.
Fernando Collor de Melo, after two years in office, was disqualified until the year 2000 for passive corruption after being subjected to a political trial in the Senate. The same process was used to remove former president Dilma Rousseff from office in 2016, however, she did keep her political rights intact.
For his part, the current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was also disqualified and imprisoned after a judicial process marked by serious irregularities, as confirmed by the Supreme Court, which enabled his political rights and allowed him to appear in the last elections that allowed him to return to the Planalto by democratic means.