Bolsonaro contests the speed and combination of shares in the TSE – 10/16/2023 – Power

The TSE (Superior Electoral Court) returns to judge this Tuesday (17) three actions against former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) amid questions about the speed with which the cases were handled and, also, about the need to analyze them together.

The points were raised last week by Bolsonaro’s defense, led by Tarcísio Vieira, who was once minister of the court in the vacancy created by lawyers. He complained that he did not agree with what he called the “anomalous rite” of the joint conduct of the three actions.

Two actions are from the PDT and question Bolsonaro’s weekly lives to ask for votes for himself and political allies, using public structure and “reaching the height of showing the ‘saint’ of each of them”.

A third action was presented by the coalition that elected President Lula (PT). She claims that Bolsonaro committed abuse of political power by carrying out, as president, acts in support of his candidacy for re-election on the premises of the Planalto and Alvorada palaces.

These actions, called Aijes (Judicial Electoral Investigation Actions), can result in punishments ranging from fines to ineligibility.

Bolsonaro was already declared ineligible for eight years in another action, which involved a meeting with ambassadors in which he launched attacks and spread lies about the electoral system. In practice, even if convicted in this new process, there is no practical effect in changing the period of ineligibility.

“With all due respect, there is no support in the national legal order for bringing together cases due to alleged legal similarity, but only due to the same facts”, stated Tarcísio in oral argument at the TSE.

“It is very clear that the causes of action are distinct,” he added. “Moreover, the cases were not ripe for trial.” According to him, there was an “unjustifiable speed” in analyzing the files.

On the occasion, the deputy electoral attorney general, Paulo Gonet, also expressed his rejection of the actions, as he understood that there are no elements in the file that allow us to guarantee that Bolsonaro’s initiatives promoted in public buildings had a “substantial impact” on the legitimacy of the elections.

Members of Abradep (Brazilian Academy of Electoral and Political Law) consulted by Sheet have divergent understandings about the criticisms made by the former president’s defense.

Lawyer Rodolfo Siqueira states that the meeting of similar Aijes, but with different causes of action, “is not ideal”.

“This is because contradictory and broad defense must prevail not only in Aijes, but in all judicial proceedings”, says Siqueira.

“When we are dealing with Aije, whose characteristics are absolutely unique in relation to Brazilian procedural law, attention to the pillars of broad defense and adversarial law must certainly be redoubled.”

According to him, Aije is a dynamic action and each one has its own rhythm. Therefore, “the joint judgment of different actions can, eventually, minimize the zoom of the magnifying glass on this or that detail of the process, a detail that can make all the difference for the parties”.

Lawyer Rodrigo Martiniano understands that, as the three cases involve allegations of use of the public administration structure and its assets to carry out campaign acts, they can be judged together.

“Although the means by which this abuse was committed are different — support events at the Planalto and Alvorada Palaces, as well as the holding of lives using the public apparatus —, the underlying fact is the same: the use of the structure of the Presidency for electoral purposes”, he states.

This Tuesday’s trial will resume with the vote of the rapporteur, the Electoral Justice Inspector Benedito Gonçalves. Then, the other ministers vote.

Benedito Gonçalves remains in the Internal Affairs Department until November 9th. His successor is minister Raul Araújo Filho, known for his proximity to the conservative political field.

In June, Araújo voted in favor of Bolsonaro in the TSE and ended up winning.

For the following week, on the 17th, two other actions related to last year’s presidential campaign are scheduled, this time against Lula.

The president of the TSE, Alexandre de Moraes, also scheduled the start of the trial of three other actions against Bolsonaro’s ticket for the 24th, as he had used the celebrations of the Bicentenary of Independence, on the 7th of September last year, to allegedly run an electoral campaign using public money.

In these actions, the Electoral Attorney General’s Office has already expressed its support for the former president’s ineligibility. The processes were presented by senator Soraya Thronicke (Podemos-MS) and the PDT.