Bolsonaro reiterates printed ballot proposal and attacks Electoral Court president

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Jair Bolsonaro again advocated the approval of an Amendment to the Constitution that guarantees the printing of proof of vote for electronic ballot boxes in the 2022 elections and criticized the president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Justice Luis Roberto Barroso, for his reservations with respect to the initiative, calling him “the owner of the truth.”

In his traditional Thursday livestream, Bolsonaro rebutted Barroso, an advocate of the current electronic voting system.

“I have heard Justice Barroso criticizing, saying we will have problems if we have printed ballots, problems in what, Barroso?” he asked. “Justice Barroso, the owner of the truth,” he added.

The president complained of reservations raised by the TSE president that the potential adoption of the printed vote, even if passed by the National Congress, would only materialize if unchallenged in the courts.

“What is this challenge in the courts business, Justice Barroso? I mean, if someone lodges a lawsuit in the Supreme Court, you’re going to say that the Amendment to the Constitution can’t go through, an Amendment to the Constitution by deputies and senators? One man will want to overthrow at least 308 deputies?” he asked.

“This is out of the question. If Congress passes the printed vote, we will have elections with printed votes and that’s that, this issue is not up for discussion, period”, he reinforced.

According to Bolsonaro, the decisions of Congress must be respected. “Don’t get involved, pretending to be a know-it-all, yet you know nothing,” he said.

The president has advocated the adoption of printed auditable votes for the 2022 dispute after criticizing the current model and raising suspicions, with no evidence presented, that there was fraud in his own election, which he claims he won in the first round.