Brazil court rejects Bolsonaro appeal against election ban
General |Author: AFP | September 29, 2023, Friday @ 15:14| 4617 views
(FILES) Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gestures during the launch ceremony of the new Growth Acceleration Program at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, on September 27, 2023. Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will undergo hip surgery on Friday September 29, 2023, interrupting a busy schedule that has seen him on a diplomatic world tour since taking office in January. Lula, who turns 78 next month, had postponed the operation as long as he could, admitting himself he does not wish to convey an image of weakness. (Photo by EVARISTO SA / AFP)
(AFP) - Brazil's Superior Electoral Court on Thursday rejected an appeal by former president Jair Bolsonaro against an earlier ruling that barred him from running for office for eight years.
The court in June blocked Bolsonaro from the next presidential election in 2026, in a ruling that accused him of "abuse of political power and misuse of the media" over his unproven claims that Brazil's electoral system was fraud-prone.
In its initial ruling, the court said Bolsonaro had used false information to question the reliability of the electronic ballot box system three months before the 2022 presidential election, which he lost to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
His appeal was unanimously rejected by the seven-magistrate court.
The far-right former leader had called the sentence a "stab in the back", and had previously said he would also appeal before the Supreme Federal Court, Brazil's highest judicial forum.
In July 2022, Bolsonaro had said, without citing evidence, that he sought to "correct flaws" in the electronic ballot box system with the "participation of the Armed Forces".
He also alleged that the electoral system could be manipulated to turn the result against him, something he repeated on numerous occasions during his campaign against Lula.
Outraged over his defeat last October, thousands of Bolsonaro's supporters blocked highways and camped outside barracks across the country calling for military intervention.
On January 8, a week after Lula's inauguration, they invaded and ransacked the presidential, congressional and Supreme Court buildings in Brasilia.
Bolsonaro is also the subject of five investigations at the Supreme Court that carry possible prison sentences.
© Agence France-Presse