Process deals with the meeting of the former chief executive with ambassadors at the Alvorada Palace
The TSE (Superior Electoral Court) will judge this Thursday (22.jun.2023) the action that could lead to the ineligibility of the former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL). The process deals with the meeting of the former chief executive with ambassadors at Palácio da Alvorada, in July 2022.
The case is under the rapporteurship of the General Electoral Inspector, Minister Benedito Gonçalves. When releasing the process for judgment, on June 1st, it published a report in which it details all the steps of the Aije (Electoral Judicial Investigation Action), including the final allegations of the prosecution and defense. After 4 days, the president of the TSE, Minister Alexandre de Moraes, ruled the trial.
The case was released after the Court defined its new composition, with the departure of 2 ministers. With the vacancies defined in the court, the scenario becomes negative for the former president, since there is now the possibility of a majority voting for Bolsonaro’s ineligibility. If that happens, he will not be able to apply for 8 years.
There are ongoing at TSE 16 Aijes against Bolsonaro. This is one of them. The Aijes are actions presented during the electoral process whose purpose is to investigate behaviors that affect equality between candidates in the dispute.
The action was filed by the PDT (Partido Democrático Trabalhista) in August 2022, a month after the meeting of the then president with ambassadors at the Palácio da Alvorada. According to the party, the former president abused political power and misused the media during the event.
On the occasion, Bolsonaro questioned the result of the 2018 electoral system, raised doubts about electronic voting machines and criticized higher court ministers. Here are the former president’s allegations:
- electronic voting machines – said that the ballot boxes automatically completed the PT vote in the 2018 elections and do not have systems that allow auditing. He further stated that the 2018 results may have been changed;
- verification – Bolsonaro said that it is not possible to monitor the counting of votes and that it is carried out by a third-party company;
- TSE ministers – stated that Minister Roberto Barroso, at the time Minister of the TSE, had been appointed to the STF (Federal Supreme Court) after giving favors to the Workers’ Party and would be pursuing persecution against him. With regard to minister Edson Fachin, at the time president of the TSE, he said that he was responsible for Lula’s eligibility.
The party asked for the former president’s ineligibility, the annulment of Bolsonaro’s ticket with General Braga Netto and the exclusion of videos from the content published by Agência Brasil – which has already been done.
The MPE (Ministério Público Eleitoral) has expressed itself in favor of the ineligibility of the former president. In his opinion, the Deputy Attorney General for Elections, Paulo Gonet Branco, accepted the merits of the requests made by the PDT in the electoral judicial investigation that asks for the ineligibility of the former head of the Executive.
In relation to the request for ineligibility of the candidate on the vice-presidential ticket, general Braga Netto (PL), the Electoral MP opposed it.
What does the defense say?
Bolsonaro’s defense in this case is headed by former TSE minister Vieira de Carvalho Neto. In the case file, the lawyers allege that the case should not be judged by the Electoral Justice, since the act would have been practiced while Bolsonaro was head of state.
The defense refutes the crimes of abuse of political power and misuse of the media, arguing that the event was an act of government. They still defend fairness and the official character of the meeting, which had “target Audience” what “did not even hold citizenship and active capacity for suffrage” and to which, among other authorities, the then president of the TSE, minister Edson Fachin, was also invited.
Lawyers claim that the statements were intended to “dispel doubts about the transparency of the electoral process” and promote the “continued public dialogue for the permanent and progressive improvement of the electoral system and republican institutions”.
Finally, they deny the gravity of the ex-president’s speeches when considering that the TSE issued a note responding to the statements, making “the full public debate”.
How will the judgment
The trial will begin at 9 am this Thursday (June 22) at the TSE headquarters, in Brasília. The minister also reserved 2 other dates to continue the analysis of the case: June 27th and 29th. Here is the script to be followed in the Electoral Court:
- The rapporteur of the action, General Inspector of the Electoral Justice, Minister Benedito Gonçalves, will begin the trial with the report reading from Aije. The 43-page report summarizes the course of action in the Court;
- After the end of the reading, it will be the turn of the prosecution and defense lawyers of the parties involved in the action to present their oral arguments. House one will have 15 minutes to speak;
- The representative of the Public Electoral Ministry must present the body’s opinion about the action;
- Minister Benedito Gonçalves will present his vote in action;
- In sequence, vote ministers Raul Araújo, Floriano de Azevedo Marques, André Ramos Tavares, the vice-president of the TSE, minister Cármen Lúcia, minister Nunes Marques and, lastly, the president of the Court, minister Alexandre de Moraes.
Case Dilma and Temer
The way in which the Electoral Court conducted the case of former president Jair Bolsonaro differs from when it rejected the impeachment of the candidate Dilma Rousseff (PT) and Michel Temer (MDB), in 2017. This is even one of the most recent arguments presented by the former president.
On the 4th (21.jun), Bolsonaro stated that the TSE cannot judge “according to the face of the judgment” and asked the Court to follow the same criteria used before.
“Jurisprudence cannot change according to the face of who is being judged or according to the ideology […] It cannot change according to who sits on the bench there. It is bad for democracy if I am judged differently than the Dilma-Temer ticket was in 2017”declared the former chief executive after visiting his son’s office, senator Flávio Bolsonaro(PL-RJ).
In the Dilma and Temer case, the TSE — which had a different background from the one that will judge Bolsonaro — decided by a majority that the evidence presented after the action was filed should be disregarded. The evidence presented indicated box 2 suspicions against Dilma and Temer.
The ministers understood that an Aije deals with specific facts related to the electoral process and, therefore, does not allow extraneous evidence to be attached to the process.
In the case of the former head of the Executive, the case has some evidence collected after the action was filed, in August 2022, such as the draft with proposals to reverse the result of the 2022 elections found in the house of the former Minister of Justice and former Secretary of Public Security for the Federal District, Anderson Torres. The expertise carried out by the PF (Federal Police) on the document was also included in the action.
The evidence was included in January, after the request of the PDT, by the reporting minister. In Gonçalves’ assessment, the draft may be related to the facts investigated in the process.
Bolsonaro appealed the decision, but the minister kept the document in the investigation. The decision was endorsed by the TSE.
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