‘Politics has a horror of a vacuum’, says Gilmar Mendes about Bolsonaro’s trial – 06/28/2023 – Politics

Without saying directly what his expectations are for the trial that could make former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) ineligible, STF (Supreme Federal Court) minister Gilmar Mendes said that the result should not bring new social or political tensions to Brazil .

“Life goes on. Politics has a horror of a vacuum. It replaces parts very quickly and organizes a flight forward”, he said this Wednesday (28), at the end of a legal forum at the Lisbon Faculty of Law.

The TSE (Superior Electoral Court) resumes this Thursday morning (29) the analysis of the action filed by the PDT and which accuses the former president of abuse of power and misuse of the media.

On Tuesday (27), the second day of the trial, TSE’s Inspector General, Benedito Gonçalves, voted to make Bolsonaro ineligible until 2030, claiming that it is not possible to turn a blind eye to anti-democratic speeches with lies and violent speeches.

Gilmar said that the political scenario in Brazil has already returned to normality after the crisis that culminated in the invasion and depredation of the headquarters of the three Powers on January 8. “The institutions are working and we are going to wait for all these developments. Certainly now, on Thursday, we will already have a deliberation by the TSE.”

For the minister, the Judiciary was fundamental for the country to sustain democracy.

“The Supreme Court has played an important role since the fake news inquiry in 2019, with Minister Dias Toffoli and Minister Alexandre de Moraes as rapporteur. stated.

He cited the episode in which the Minister of Defense at the time, Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, asked the TSE to disclose the source code of the electronic voting machines, something that was already public. “That was already going to abuse, harassment.”

To avoid new crises in the future, Gilmar defended the approval of the Fake News PL as essential. “Both the mayor, Arthur Lira, and the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, hit the same key: it is necessary to vote on the fake news project. it is a fundamental battle for democracies, that it is necessary to limit the powers of these big techs”, he said.

Lira, Pacheco and Rebelo de Sousa participated in the 11th Lisbon Legal Forum, held by the educational institution IDP in partnership with entities such as FGV (Fundação Getúlio Vargas) Knowledge. Minister Gilmar Mendes is a partner at IPD.