international press echoes TSE decision

The decision of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) to make former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) ineligible for eight years reverberated this Friday (30) in the international press. They highlighted the votes of TSE ministers against the former Brazilian representative and also mentioned some of the possible right-wing candidates who may be supported by Bolsonaro in 2026.

In the judgment, most of the ministers of the Electoral Court considered that Bolsonaro committed abuse of political power and misuse of the media by questioning the security of the Brazilian electoral system in a meeting with ambassadors in July last year.

The US newspaper The New York Times stated that the TSE’s decision removed “one of the main candidates from the next presidential race” and dealt a significant blow to the movement that the vehicle called the “extreme right”. this Friday’s decision is yet another proof that the President of the Electoral Court, Minister Alexandre de Moraes, has become “one of the most powerful men in Brazil”.

“The decision is a sharp and swift rebuke from Mr. Bolsonaro and his effort to undermine Brazil’s elections. Just six months ago, Mr. Bolsonaro was president of one of the largest democracies in the world. Now, his career as a politician is at risk.

In The Washington Post, Bolsonaro was called the “Trump of the tropics”. The publication said that the TSE’s decision is the first of many investigations against the former Brazilian representative. The newspaper noted that Bolsonaro “claimed without evidence that voting systems in Latin America’s largest country were vulnerable to fraud”.

“No one in Brazil has shown Bolsonaro’s ability to energize the right. But his allies are already looking for his replacement. They hope that portraying the former president as a victim of a corrupt system will bolster their case. One candidate to succeed him, supporters say, is his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro,” said The Washington Post.

The British newspaper The Guardian highlighted that the former president’s political future “was put in doubt”. The report also pointed out possible names to replace Bolsonaro in the 2026 presidential elections, such as former first lady Michelle, São Paulo governor Tarcísio de Freitas, among others.

“The marginalization of Bolsonaro, the dominant figure on the Brazilian right, has sparked speculation over who might inherit the formidable 58 million votes he received last year,” says the Guardian.

El País, a Spanish newspaper, stated that the TSE’s decision against Bolsonaro “shortened the right-wing leader’s political career”. The publication, which classified the former president as an “ultra-rightist”, also highlighted that the possibility of reversing the conviction is practically nil.

The Argentine newspaper Clarín pointed out that “Bolsonaro is facing another 16 cases in the Electoral Justice and is investigated in the Federal Supreme Court in several cases, including fraud in his vaccination card against Covid-19, the mega-cause of fake news opened in 2019 and the attempt of the January 8 coup, for which he has already testified before the Federal Police”.

Diário de Notícias, a Portuguese newspaper, highlighted the choice of Bolsonaro’s replacement for 2026. “As conviction was already a likely scenario, Bolsonaro and his party, the PL, are planning the next municipal elections, in 2024, under the motto supposed ‘political persecution’”, says the article.

“And the party is also preparing the 2026 presidential elections without the ineligible Bolsonaro and, perhaps, without Lula, who during the campaign promised not to run for re-election but is now showing signs that he will not keep his promise”, pointed out the publication.

The German newspaper Deutsche Welle highlighted Moraes’ “strong” vote during the trial. “The TSE, stressed [Moraes]demonstrated today ‘disgust at the degrading populism reborn from the flames of anti-democratic hate speeches, which propagate infamous disinformation produced by true digital militiamen’, reaffirming the ‘faith in democracy and the rule of law’, highlighted the newspaper of the minister’s speech .

The French publication Le Monde also spoke about the options for the right in the next presidential elections with Bolsonaro out of the race. “The question of the leadership of Bolsonaro’s camp is already being raised. No figure stands out for now, but Bolsonarism is more ingrained than ever. Right-wing and far-right parties are even stronger in parliament than they were under Jair Bolsonaro.