BRASILIA: Calling the highest electoral court’s decision a “stab in the back”, former President Jair Bolsonaro vowed to appeal at the Supreme Court against the ruling which bars him from public office till 2030, Al Jazeera reported.
Bolsonaro was barred from running for political office till 2030 by the highest electoral court after he was found guilty of abusing his power and misusing public media during last year’s election campaign.
Speaking to Brazilian radio station Itatiaia, Bolsonaro on Friday said that he planned to appeal the court’s decision. Calling the decision a “stab in the back”, the former President pledged to keep working to advance ‘right-wing politics’ in Brazil, Al Jazeera reported.
Before Friday’s judgment, Bolsonaro also rejected any wrongdoing. “I have not attacked the voting system; I just showed its possible flaws”, he told Itatiaia radio station, adding, “This trial doesn’t make any sense”.
The former President was found guilty by five out of seven judges, effectively ending any hope of a political comeback in the forthcoming 2026 election. Two of the judges voted against the decision, which prevents Bolsonaro from running for public office for eight years.
As per CNN, the case stems from a meeting Bolsonaro held with foreign ambassadors in July 2022, in which he spread false information about Brazil’s electoral system and brought its credibility into question ahead of last year’s fractious election. The meeting was live-streamed by official television channels and on YouTube.
YouTube took down the livestream of the event for not complying with its fake news policy.
Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who presided over the court, cast his vote last. “Let us reaffirm our faith in our democracy and the rule of law”, he said after voting in favour of the guilty verdict.
The judge added that with the vote, Brazilian authorities would show they do not tolerate “criminal extremism attacking the powers of the state, fake news, disinformation to try to deceive voters”.
Bolsonaro lost the election by the narrowest margin in decades to current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Riots on January 8 saw pro-Bolsonaro protesters breaking into government buildings in Brasilia, following weeks of demonstrations over the election results. (ANI)