Bolsonaro is sowing doubt in Brazil’s electoral system. His claims could endanger his own candidacy. | CNN

São Paulo, Brazil
CNN
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As Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro falls additional and additional behind in the polls, his unsupported declare that the 2022 elections could be rigged have solely elevated in fervor and frequency. But these freewheeling statements have now sparked investigations that could threaten his very eligibility to run as a presidential candidate in any respect.

After a collection of claims by Bolsonaro that the nation’s digital voting system is inadequate and that it has been “violated” in previous years, Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE), which oversees elections, has opened an administrative inquiry into the president’s statements. It has additionally requested that Bolsonaro be investigated as half of a bigger ongoing probe into the proliferation of “fake news” and disinformation campaigns in Brazil. Both could include vital political consequences for Bolsonaro.

If the TSE inquiry finds that the president abused his place to unfold misinformation, Bolsonaro could be barred from operating for workplace for eight years, in keeping with Wallace Corbo, professor of constitutional legislation at Getúlio Vargas Foundation University (FGV).

“As president, Bolsonaro is allowed and expected to take part in public discussions,” Corbo mentioned. “What he cannot do – and has been doing – is systematically attack the electoral system by which he was elected.”

In a press convention final week, Bolsonaro promised to show that Brazil´s internationally praised voting system is rigged, however supplied no proof and acknowledged, “we don’t have proof.” He solely performed a collection of inconclusive YouTube movies and media reviews, examples that Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) refuted.

This week, he doubled-down on his makes an attempt to foster doubts concerning the electoral system, tweeting confidential paperwork from a 2018 federal investigation that Bolsonaro claims present the nation’s voting system was “violated.”

But in keeping with the TSE, which has repeatedly rebutted Bolsonaro’s claims about election-rigging, the hacking episode didn’t end result in fraud. “It is worth reiterating that electronic voting machines are never networked. As they are not connected to the internet, they are not subject to remote access, which prevents any kind of external interference in the voting and counting process. For this reason, it is possible to say, with a margin of certainty, that the investigated invasion had no impact on the outcome of the elections,” the court docket mentioned in a press release.

In response to the court docket’s resolution to research him, the President has insisted that his concern is purely concerning the elections’ integrity, and mentioned that he “won’t accept [any] intimidation.”

“Questionable elections will not be permitted next year. Brazil will have an election next year. Clean, democratic elections,” Bolsonaro mentioned.

Nevertheless, his repeated assaults on the present programs have raised issues that the incumbent is making ready to reject unfavorable outcomes.

During a YouTube livestream on Thursday, Bolsonaro – who has repeatedly insisted on the necessity to audit ballots with paper data – mentioned he wouldn’t ask to audit the 2022 elections if he emerges victorious. “Any side can question the elections. If I win I won’t question them … I won’t waste my time,” he mentioned.

A Datafolha ballot from July 7 and eight at the moment reveals Bolsonaro greater than 20 factors behind his principal opponent, former leftwing president Lula da Silva, in a primary spherical of voting.

Bolsonaro’s feedback have notably focused digital voting, warning that his supporters could not settle for the outcomes of the present system. Brazil has had absolutely computerized elections since 2000 and the TSE has recognized no fraud since then.

“If this method continues, they’re going to have problems,” the President mentioned in a July radio interview, in keeping with Reuters. “Because one side, which is our side, may not accept the result.”

Earlier this 12 months, in the wake of the January 6 Capitol riot in Washington, Bolsonaro claimed that Brazil could face even worse repercussions if it doesn’t implement paper ballots. “If Brazil doesn’t have a printed vote in 2022, a way of auditing the vote, we will have a worse problem than the US,” he advised supporters in entrance of the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia then.

(Electronic voting programs can nonetheless be audited, as they have been when 2014 presidential candidate Aecio Neves demanded a recount after shedding to Dilma Rousseff. The audit, which took one 12 months, confirmed Rousseff’s victory.)

In an interview with CNN Brasil on Wednesday, Brazilian parliamentary chief and Bolsonaro ally Arthur Lira mentioned that he trusts digital voting machines, however that he would help altering laws about voting process in order to extend public belief, together with the potential use of the printed vote system.

But some election officers concern Bolsonaro’s claims could have already broken public confidence in the upcoming vote. “The threat against elections, polluting the public debate with disinformation, lies, hatred and conspiracy theories is an anti-democratic behavior,” wrote TSE President Luis Barroso this week.

Bolsonaro however argues that even in his function as president, he has the “right to criticize” electoral processes – flawed or not. “The TSE has taken certain steps to investigate and accuse me of undemocratic acts,” Bolsonaro responded in an interview with the radio program Jovem Pan on Wednesday. “I can be wrong, but I have the right to criticize. We are not wrong. We didn’t make mistakes!”