TSE persecuted Bolsonaro by making him ineligible, says Valdemar Costa Neto

The national president of the PL, Valdemar Costa Neto, sees the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) persecuting former president Jair Bolsonaro, who made him ineligible last month due to the meeting he held with ambassadors in July 2022.

“I was saddened by this decision by the TSE. This has never happened on the planet, leaving a citizen ineligible, who didn’t even have a mandate. Never,” he said in an interview with Newspaper published this Monday (24).

“Bolsonaro is persecuted, of course. He was persecuted by the TSE, he was wronged. He could never be ineligible. This the comrade on the right sees. They are enlightened, opinionated people,” he added.

Costa Neto considered Moraes’ decisions as a “joke” with irony when determining the millionaire fine even though he encouraged the parties to supervise the fairness of the elections and the marking of the date of the beginning of Bolsonaro’s trial, June 22 – the legend number on the ballot boxes. The audit found evidence of flaws in the system, that TSE technicians would have the “power to manipulate election results, without leaving any trace”.

The party representative says he questioned Moraes about the result of the audit, but received no response. “A party getting a fine like that? ER$22.9 million, which is two plus two plus nine, which is number 13, PT. So funny. They must find it very funny here, ”he said.

According to him, these decisions anger “people on the right”, leading to attacks like the one that happened to Alexandre de Moraes a little over a week ago at the international airport in Rome, Italy.

Party studies options for 2026

Valdemar Costa Neto also stated that he is considering appealing Bolsonaro’s ineligibility to an international body so that he can be a candidate for the 2026 presidential succession, and that the former president needs to be preserved because he is “a voting machine, and the party lives on that”.

“For Bolsonaro, the matter is settled. He said ‘It’s no use, the way things are, these people are going to prevent me from being a candidate’. I asked a friend to do a study in the international area, without consulting Bolsonaro and without spending money either. I think if we had a place [fora] to appeal, I would be able to revert”, he said.

Still according to Costa Neto, at the moment there is no ideal candidate to run for president in 2026, but names like Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans) and Romeu Zema (Novo) are among the main suggestions. “Now, you need to see what Bolsonaro will decide”, he added, indicating that it is the former president who calls the shots in the party.

“Bolsonaro had half the votes. what are you with [Judiciário] doing with it, it can grow. For example, let’s say he’s going to support Tarcísio. I guarantee you that many women who did not vote for Bolsonaro in São Paulo will vote for Tarcísio for president, because he does not carry rejection”, he said, adding that the relationship between the two is solid and that they will have a meeting next week in São Paulo.