[The Nation (Pak)] A-Far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro risks losing his right to run for office for eight years, as Brazil’s electoral court begins delivering its ruling Thursday on charges stemming from his unfounded allegations against the voting system.
The Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) is trying the former president on charges he abused his office and misused state media when, in July 2022, he convened foreign diplomats for a meeting in which he insisted Brazil’s electronic voting machines were susceptible to large-scale fraud.
Armed with a PowerPoint presentation but no hard evidence, Bolsonaro spent nearly an hour making his case to the assembled ambassadors at the presidential palace briefing, which was broadcast live on public TV.
Prosecutors say the event violated electoral law, given that it was held in the middle of Bolsonaro’s polarizing campaign for Brazil’s October 2022 elections, which he narrowly lost to his leftist arch-rival, now-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
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