sao paulo: Far-right After a panel of judges found that Jair Bolsonaro abused his power and raised unfounded concerns about the nation's electronic voting system, he was prohibited from running for office again until 2030.
The choice changes the 68-year-old's political trajectory and probably eliminates his chances of ever regaining power.
The country's highest electoral court's five judges all concurred that Bolsonaro sowed mistrust about the election by promoting his campaign through official channels of communication. Two judges abstained from the decision.
Bolsonaro will no longer have a chance to run for office, and he is aware of this, according to Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo. It is extremely unlikely that he will ever run for president again after this. He will try to avoid jail time and elect some of his allies to maintain his political capital.
The case centred on a meeting on July 18, 2022, where Bolsonaro told foreign ambassadors that the nation's electronic voting system was rigged using government employees, the state television network, and the presidential palace in Brasilia.
The Supreme Court justice Carmen Lucia, who cast the deciding vote that established the majority, declared that "the facts are incontrovertible."
"The meeting really did happen. The president at the time called it. Its contents are accessible. Everyone looked at it, and there was never a denial that it actually occurred, she said.
The decision, according to fellow Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes, represents rebuke of "populism reborn from the flames of hateful, antidemocratic speech that promotes heinous disinformation."
However, Bolsonaro's case marks the first time a president has been suspended for election violations rather than a criminal offence. Previous presidents Fernando Collor de Mello and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva were both ruled ineligible. Candidates serving prison sentences are prohibited from running for office under Brazilian law.
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Following decisions that former judge and current senator Sergio Moro was biassed when he sentenced the leftist leader to almost 10 years in prison for corruption and money laundering, Lula's eligibility was restored by Brazil's top court.
Rio de Janeiro engineer Maria Maris, 58, welcomed the decision even though she believes it may have been politically motivated.
Even though Bolsonaro was declared ineligible today, Maris expressed her concern that he would appeal and run in the subsequent presidential election.
Within his Liberal Party, Bolsonaro serves in a ceremonial leadership position and has toured Brazil criticising Lula, who won the election last October by the narrowest margin in more than three decades.
One week after Lula assumed office, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed government buildings on January 8 in an effort to remove the leftist. Their rejection of the election's outcomes was stifled by the swift imprisonment and prosecution of hundreds of participants. Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing, but federal police are looking into his role in sparking the uprising.
Bolsonaro's ineligibility presents a teachable moment, according to Gleisi Hoffmann, the chairwoman of Lula's Workers' Party, who posted the statement on her social media platforms.
"The far-right needs to know that the political struggle takes place within the democratic process, and not with violence and threatening a coup," she stated. Because Bolsonaro disregards the rules, he "will be out of the game." Not just him, but his entire group of coup plotters must take the same route.
According to Marie Santini, coordinator of NetLab, a research group at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro that monitors social media, the trial has reenergized Bolsonaro's base online, with supporters claiming he is a victim of an unfair judicial system and comparing his fate to that of former US President Donald Trump.
The levels of engagement seen prior to the divisive election last year, however, pale in comparison.
A 67-year-old retiree from Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana neighbourhood, Katia Caminha, lost her composure when she learned that the majority of the judges had decided against Bolsonaro. She expressed to The Associated Press her opinion that the trial had been nothing more than a "clown show."
The electoral court is biassed and working against Bolsonaro in everything it does. Caminha declared, "This is terrible news for Brazil."
This week, Bolsonaro's supporters demonstrated their unwavering support by making donations to help him pay the 1.1 million reais ($230,000) in fines imposed by the state of Sao Paulo for repeatedly breaking health protocol during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Political analyst Thomas Traumann claimed that Bolsonaro's decision to relocate to Florida for several months at the beginning of Lula's term weakened him even though he aspires to be the right's kingmaker and that his endorsement will carry considerable weight. The limited right-wing outrage throughout the eligibility trial on social media and the absence of any demonstrations are evidence of this.
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"He shrank, so there won't be a large-scale movement. He lost size because he travelled to Florida and failed to lead the opposition, according to Traumann. Bolsonaro is clearly not the opposition's leader.
It is Time for Jair to Go Away, a song that went viral during the 2016 presidential election, was played by a trumpeter outside the electoral court as the trial came to a close.
