On Wednesday (17/08), Jair Bolsonaro’s lawyers asked the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) to reject the Public Ministry’s request to fine the president – and reelection candidate – for early electoral propaganda. According to the President’s lawyers, the criticisms made by the President on the electoral system at a meeting with ambassadors at Palácio da Alvorada – the presidential palace – in July were “an expression of his own political opinion”, and not a request for votes or an attack on an opponent’s candidacy.
The Case
Deputy Electoral Attorney General Paulo Gonet Branco asked the TSE to fine Bolsonaro for the meeting. For Branco, as a reelection candidate, Bolsonaro had, in practice, asked for votes by gathering ambassadors at the official residence of the Presidency of the Republic to spread disinformation about the elections.
