Minister Benedito Gonçalves, of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), gave a period of five days, counting from the citation manifested in the dispatch published on January 21, for former president Jair Bolsonaro to comment on a post in which he questioned the result of the elections that elected Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva president of the Republic.
Corregidor General of the Electoral Justice, Gonçalves accepted the request made by the Coligação Brasil da Esperança, which had Lula as head of the ticket for the presidential elections.
The petition presented by the coalition argued that the “attacking acts” against the Brazilian electoral system were aimed at “shattering the normality and health of the election, thus delegitimizing democratic and safe electoral suffrage, instilling in voters a feeling of insecurity and disbelief in the electoral system and, consequently, attacking the very existence of the Democratic State of Law”.
election result
The aforementioned post – published in the former president’s official profile two days after the attacks against the headquarters of the Three Powers in Brasília – questioned the result of the 2022 elections with the words “Lula was not chosen by the people. He was chosen and elected by the STF and TSE”.
The petition also mentions the seizure at the residence of former Minister of Justice, Anderson Torres, of a “draft of decree destined to establish a State of Defense in the Superior Electoral Court and change the result of the 2022 Presidential Elections”.
In the dispatch of the TSE, Gonçalves adds that, with regard to the draft, the petition argued that “the absurdity rehearsed by the ex-minister of the investigated Jair Bolsonaro would go as far as: breaking the secrecy of correspondence and telematic and telephone communication of ministers of that Special Court; restrict access to the headquarters of that e.TSE; and arresting targets for ‘crimes against the state’.
“It is convenient, therefore, that the subpoena for the investigated parties to express themselves regarding the facts reported herein be made concomitantly with the citation”, added the minister when determining the period of five days for the former president’s manifestation.
