Bolsonaro’s trial should last until the end of the month; understand – 06/18/2023 – Power

Scheduled to start next Thursday (22), the trial of the electoral action that could make former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) ineligible should occupy all sessions of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) until the beginning of the judicial recess, in July.

After the session on the 22nd, the court still has two more ordinary sessions on the 27th and 29th and will end the work with an extraordinary session, in which there is normally no trial of cases, on the 30th.

The case deals with the meeting in which Bolsonaro presented lies about electronic voting machines to ambassadors in July last year. In addition to the legal discussions on the subject, the trial is likely to take a long time because the Inspector General of the Electoral Justice, Benedito Gonçalves, must present an extensive vote, of more than 300 pages.

There is always, however, the possibility of requesting a review, which would paralyze the analysis of the case so that a minister can study the process in more depth – or simply understand that it is necessary to postpone the end of the trial.

UNDERSTAND THE JUDGMENT THAT MAY MAKE BOLSONARO INELIGIBLE

What is the order of the trial? The standard order of a trial at the TSE begins with reading the report, which is a summary of the proceedings and the arguments presented by the parties.

This reading, which will be done by the General Inspector Benedito Gonçalves, can be waived if the court intends to speed up the trial.

Afterwards, 15 minutes will be granted for the defense to manifest itself in favor of your client. In the case of Bolsonaro, who should do this is the lawyer Tarcísio Vieira de Carvalho Neto, who was once a minister of the TSE.

15 minutes will also be granted for the manifestation of who presented the action, the PDT. The lawyer who will represent the party is Walber Agra. The Electoral Public Ministry will also speak for a period of 30 minutes.

It is possible that, before the beginning of the votes, the ministers discuss preliminary questions of a procedural nature. These issues deal, for example, with claims of nullity raised by the parties.

Afterwards, Benedito, the rapporteur, will start reading his vote. The other ministers vote after him, and may follow or disagree with his understanding.

Who presented the action and what is its focus? The Aije (electoral judicial investigation action) against Bolsonaro that is more advanced was presented by the PDT – the party that had Ciro Gomes as a candidate for the Presidency. It focuses on the meeting with ambassadors held by the then president in July last year.

What is an Aije? It is an electoral action that can be presented up to the date of the candidate’s graduation. It intends to investigate conducts that may affect the equality of dispute in the election, such as abuse of economic power, authority or misuse of the means of social communication for the benefit of a candidate.

What’s the punishment? If declared ineligible by the TSE, Bolsonaro, 68, will not be able to contest elections for eight years – a period that counts from the 2022 election. possibility of him running again in elections in 2030 or only in 2032.

If the TSE’s understanding is that Bolsonaro committed an act of abuse of power, he would be barred even in 2030, since, for this conviction, the disqualification date would start counting from January 2023. In a less unfavorable scenario for the former president, in which he is convicted of prohibited conduct, lawyers say there would be room to discuss whether Bolsonaro could already run in the 2030 election.

What was the meeting with ambassadors like? In July last year, Bolsonaro invited dozens of foreign representatives to speak about the country’s electronic voting system. The event lasted about 50 minutes and was broadcast on TV Brasil. At the time, the government’s Secretariat of Communication barred the press, allowing only vehicles that committed to broadcast the event live.

What were the offenses pointed out by the PDT in the action? The PDT says that Bolsonaro practiced abuse of political power, which occurs when the holder of power uses his position “to act in a way to influence the voter”, undermining the freedom to vote. Furthermore, it claims that he misused social media – by using social media to air attacks on the integrity of the voting system. The party also points out that there would have been misuse of the state apparatus, because the event took place at the Palácio da Alvorada, with transmission by TV Brasil.

What did Bolsonaro’s defense claim? One of Bolsonaro’s lines of defense was to maintain that the speeches at the event were made as head of state and as an act of government, with the aim of “dispelling doubts about the transparency of the electoral process”. In addition, they point out that the target audience of the event was not voters, but people without Brazilian citizenship.