Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has received an eight-year ban from running for office following a verdict from the Supreme Electoral Court of Brazil.

The decision comes after Bolsonaro was found guilty of abusing his power during the previous presidential election by spreading misinformation about the susceptibility of electronic voting machines to hacking and fraud.

The court ruled by a majority that the ex-president’s actions had undermined Brazilian democracy. His legal team, however, plans to contest this ruling, maintaining that Bolsonaro’s statements had no bearing on the election’s outcome.

Bolsonaro, aged 68, narrowly lost the last presidential race to leftist candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The Superior Electoral Court’s decision now potentially paves the way for the emergence of new leaders within the Brazilian right wing, which has been relatively subdued in opposition despite its success in recent congressional elections.

The case revolved around Bolsonaro’s conduct during a meeting with foreign ambassadors in the election year. He expressed doubts about the reliability of Brazil’s electronic voting machines, a move critics argue was a deliberate strategy to foster mistrust in the electoral process. This meeting was widely broadcasted across television and social media platforms, including YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.

Judge Benedito Goncalves, overseeing the case, accused Bolsonaro of delivering a “deceitful monologue about electronic voting and the electoral justice system . . . using scraps of false information already so naturalised in his rhetoric”.

Bolsonaro refuted these allegations and indicated that the meeting with the ambassadors served governmental, not electoral, purposes. He stated he merely highlighted potential flaws in the voting system and plans to appeal the court’s decision at the Supreme Court.

The ban handed down by the court prevents Bolsonaro from participating in any elections, encompassing local, state, and federal, for a period of eight years. The ban takes effect retroactively from the first round of the 2022 presidential election, effectively disqualifying him from contesting any polls until 2030. However, he retains the right to partake in political activities and has expressed his intention to remain active in the political scene.

  Benedito Goncalves, Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro