Brazil’s Electoral Court accuses Bolsonaro of disclosing classified police reports

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The power struggle between the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has entered a new round.

The TSE on Monday (9) accused President Jair Bolsonaro of disclosing confidential police documents, and requested that he be investigated for this action by the Supreme Court, amid escalating tension between the president and the judicial branch of government.

The electoral court asked the country’s highest judicial instance to investigate the head of state to clarify whether he committed a crime for the “disclosure of secrets”.

Last week, the country’s leader shared on his social networks a series of Federal Police reports included in a confidential investigation, under judicial seal, into a computer attack on the TSE’s systems, which occurred in 2018.

The TSE magistrates consider that the president’s behavior could constitute a criminal offense for “disclosing, without just cause, confidential or sealed information.”

Judge Barroso and President Bolsonaro have clashed verbally dozens of times. A few days ago, this dispute, which appears to be personal in nature, escalated and is now affecting the entire country, including foreign investors interested in the booming nation but increasingly fearing a political and institutional crisis.

The STF investigation against Bolsonaro was initially limited to the spread of fake news over the Internet. However, two months ago, the focus shifted to the possible existence of so-called “anti-democratic digital” groups, mostly belonging to the incumbent leader’s far-right camp.

The TSE’s request to the STF complements another decision by the electoral court, which had decided to initiate “administrative proceedings” against the President after he declared that there would be “no elections” unless printed ballots were used again in 2022.

With the approval of the entire TSE, Judge Barroso announced Monday (2) that he would initiate “administrative proceedings” against the Brazilian president for questioning the credibility of the electronic voting system.

The conflict is that Bolsonaro has repeatedly questioned the credibility of electronic ballot boxes, which the country introduced in 1996. At the time, most believed the new system would put an end to voter fraud. No substantial claims of fraud have ever questioned any of the elections in the past quarter century.

Nevertheless, Bolsonaro says he wants to add another layer of security to the system so that digital election results can be verified by analog means in case of doubt.

The president has therefore proposed a constitutional amendment that is currently being discussed in Congress. The proposal is to amend the electronic voting system by adding an analog physical “receipt” of the vote.

The proposed new system, if enacted, would be in place by the November 2022 general election, when state and federal legislatures and executive positions are contested.

The plenary of the Chamber of Deputies is scheduled to analyze this initiative this Tuesday, after it was overwhelmingly rejected by a parliamentary committee. However, numerous parties have already anticipated that they will vote to reject it.

“Tomorrow the Congress will decide, but there are other mechanisms with which we can collaborate so that there are no suspicions” in the elections, said Bolsonaro without giving further details, in statements to a group of supporters at the gates of the presidential residence, in Brasilia.