Jair Bolsonaro’s party calls for the annulment of the votes of 300,000 ballot boxes for alleged mistakes that gave victory to Lula

Jair Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party (PL) asked the Brazilian electoral justice this Tuesday cancel the votes of about 280,000 ballot boxes used in the October 30 runoff, citing alleged errors that would have given Lula the victory over the current president.

“It is necessary that the respective votes in the electronic ballot boxes in which irreparable malfunctions have occurred are invalidated and that the practical and legal consequences due in relation to the outcome of the second round of the elections are determined”, said the PL in the complaint signed by the ‘lawyer Marcelo Bessa and addressed to the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE).

Bolsonaro’s party reports a “malfunction” of five ballot box modelshe would have demonstrated in a technical report produced by the Institute of Legal Voting, hired by the same formation, that “it would jeopardize the transparency of the electoral process”.

The president of the TSE, Alexandre de Moraes, responded to the request by questioning whether the polls They were used in both the runoff and the first round on 2 October.

The answer

“Under penalty of dismissal (of the suit), the author must add a demand that both rounds of the election be covered, within 24 hours” Moraes said in his decision.

The complaint refers to around 280,000 ballot boxes used in the elections and which correspond to pre-2020 models.

“Inconsistencies do not allow the voter’s vote to be verified. This does not mean that there has been fraud, but that there is no certainty that the polls are credible“, Bessa said at a press conference in Brasilia and assured that Lula had an advantage of almost five points in the old ballot box models, higher than the official result of 50.9% against 49.1%.

With voiding of votes from contested polls, Bolsonaro’s party claims current president would get re-election “with 51.05% of the valid votes against Lula’s 48.95%.”.

Bolsonaro has remained largely silent since he lost re-election by a narrow margin of 2.1 million votes to leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The far-right leader did not explicitly acknowledge the result, but he authorized the transfer of power.

Refusal of the PT

Bolsonaro cited the “indignation” and “feeling of injustice” of his followers, who in some cases continue to demonstrate in front of military barracks demanding military intervention against the result of the polls.

The head of the PL, Valdemar Costa Neto, assured that the report “does not express the opinion” of the party, relying on the work of “technical specialists in data security”.

The Workers’ Party (PT), which headed the electoral coalition led by Lula, rejected the attempted action from the PL and considered it a “trick” that cannot thrive in justice.

“Bolsonaro’s appeal to the TSE is a ploy that must be sanctioned as a lawsuit in bad faith. No more malice, irresponsibility and insults to institutions and democracy,” said the president of the PT, Gleisi Hoffmann, in a message posted on Twitter.

“The election was decided by vote and Brazil needs peace to build a better future,” added Hoffmann, one of the leaders of the transition team appointed by Lula, who is recovering from minor throat surgery.

Source: AFP and EFE

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