Bolsonaro’s rivals want to convict him in the TSE due to popular support

The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) begins judging, this Tuesday (24), two more actions that seek to make former president Jair Bolsonaro ineligible once again. The lawsuits are filed by the PDT, owned by former minister Ciro Gomes, and by senator Soraya Thronicke (União-MS), who ran against him in the 2022 election. The two accuse Bolsonaro of abuse of political and economic power and misuse of the means of communication for having gathered a crowd for rallies in Brasília and Rio, after the Independence celebrations, on September 7th.

Last year, shortly after the event, the TSE prohibited Bolsonaro from using Independence Day images in his electoral propaganda. Now, his opponents want him to be forced to pay a heavy fine and be prevented, in a new action, from running in elections until 2030. In June, the PDT and PT had already achieved this punishment, but because of the meeting that Bolsonaro spoke to ambassadors in July last year to cast doubt on the integrity of electronic voting machines and the impartiality of the TSE. Last week, actions that also wanted ineligibility, due to the holding of “lives” at the Palácios da Alvorada and Planalto, were rejected.

In the current cases, the perspective among lawyers following the case is for a new conviction. Ineligibility would have the same deadline: until 2030. The difference in practice would be that, with a possible new conviction, it would become more difficult for Bolsonaro’s defense to be able to reverse his ineligibility status through an appeal to the Federal Supreme Court itself.

The actions accuse Bolsonaro of abuse due to the fact that he allegedly took advantage of the structure set up for military parades and the public present at two events to promote his candidacy. In addition to the misuse of purpose, the broadcast of at least one of the ceremonies on TV Brasil, again with public resources, would be serious enough to unbalance the election in favor of Bolsonaro.

The former president’s defense refutes these accusations with several arguments. Firstly, it claims that there was a clear differentiation, on the day, between the official celebration of Independence and the rally, both in Brasília and Rio de Janeiro.

The first ceremony was held on the morning of September 7, 2022 on a track on the Esplanada dos Ministérios, as is traditionally the case, and Bolsonaro did not speak, just watched the military parade. The rally, on the lawn in front of Congress, took place later, in the late morning, and Bolsonaro had already removed his presidential sash. The costs, with sound trucks, were covered by the voters themselves and movements supporting the former president.

“As soon as the civic-military parade ended, the pulpit of honor was dismantled and the authorities and guests present left the place through the region of the ministries’ annexes; the stands were emptied, all of them, without exception, and the big screens, facing the pitch, were effectively turned off […] Only after that did Jair Bolsonaro, no longer wearing the presidential sash, resume his status as a candidate,” his lawyers told the TSE.

In Brasília, Bolsonaro asked for votes, said that Brazil was fighting a fight “of good against evil”, defended his family, and called Lula, then his main opponent, a “thief” and “a gangster”. He praised his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, as “a woman of God, family and active in my life”. Beside her, he sang a chorus saying that it was “imbrochable”. He stated that, if re-elected, he would bring “within the four lines of the Constitution all those who dare to stay outside them”.

Bolsonaro arrived in Rio in the afternoon, where he took part in a motorcycle race through the city’s streets. Afterwards, he got on a sound truck and spoke to supporters on the Copacabana waterfront. Shortly before, at the location, there was a military presentation in honor of the Bicentenary of Independence – the event was supposed to take place on Avenida Presidente Vargas, but was moved. In his speech, he defended the continuity of his government, “which believes in God, which respects the police and military” and which “defends the Brazilian family”. Afterwards, he criticized Lula again, who he called a “nine-fingered square dancer”.

In the process, Bolsonaro’s defense said that, in the morning, when the celebrations of the Bicentenary of Independence began in Rio, he was not present. He claimed that participation in the event, in the afternoon, would have been “simple and episodic”. Bolsonaro stood on a stage set up by local authorities watching the celebrations, but did not speak.

Bolsonaro’s defense maintains that, deep down, Bolsonaro’s rivals want to condemn him in the TSE for the popular support he received not only on the day, but throughout his political career. He argues that the thousands of people who stayed for his rally in Brasília, as well as the crowd that later gathered in Copacabana, attended voluntarily.

“Only those people who were actually interested, not from a civic point of view, but from a political point of view, stayed beyond the parade to listen to those being investigated, given the relevant physical separation (distance) between the sound car and the stands of the Bicentenary parade of Independence. It is necessary to recognize that if thousands of people were posted on the Esplanada dos Ministérios to hear what Bolsonaro had to say, thousands of other spectators left after the formal end of the parade”, stated the defense. “If the commemoration of the Bicentenary of Independence attracted massive popular participation, this was also due, to a large extent, to Jair Bolsonaro’s personal prestige and due to his political (and not purely electoral) base, built over the years of his Government. ”, he added.

The lawyers also noted that TV Brasil ended the broadcast shortly after the end of the Independence parade, therefore without covering the rallies held afterwards. Furthermore, they claim that, as current legislation allows for re-election, it is unreasonable for an incumbent president running for a new term to be forced to give up his campaign. Furthermore, he claims that the expenses for the Rio rally, to organize a motorbike, totaled R$32,800 and were financed by the campaign. The defense says they consider the amount low compared to the expense pattern of other presidential campaigns.

“What is evident in the holding of popular demonstrations, in themselves considered, is the full and healthy exercise of freedom of expression by a considerable portion of Brazilian citizenship”, say the former president’s lawyers.

The TSE reserved two sessions to judge the actions. This Tuesday (24), only lawyers and the Electoral Attorney General’s Office, which gave its opinion on the conviction, should speak. Next Thursday (26) the seven ministers of the Court must vote; 4 votes are enough for a conviction.