Former far-right president of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro pledged on Friday, to challenge a court verdict that disqualified him from holding public office for eight years. The ruling was made in response to baseless accusations he had leveled against the country’s voting system.
Brazil’s far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro vowed Friday to appeal a court ruling to bar him from public office for eight years over unfounded attacks he had made against the country’s voting system.
Prosecutors blamed Bolsonaro’s statements for a violent invasion of the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court in January by supporters angry about his electoral loss to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The former president told journalists the 5-2 Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) decision was a “stab in the back,” adding he would appeal to the Supreme Court.
In a verdict that stretched over several days, five of the seven judges of the TSE in Brasilia voted to censure Bolsonaro for alleged abuses of power. Two found in his favor.
The TSE ruling means Bolsonaro will be ineligible to stand in the presidential election in 2026, opening the contest for a new leader for Brazil’s political right.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
