by Ricardo Brito
BRASILIA (Reuters) – The president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Edson Fachin, said on Tuesday (7) that the electoral court could punish and even revoke the mandate of a candidate who divulges information that he knows to be untrue. Minister Alexandre de Moraes had also stated last month that a candidate who spreads fake news may have his registration or mandate revoked.
In an interview with the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in Brazil, Fachin said that the court is “immensely concerned” with disinformation during the elections and warned that, if it has to “sanction” some behaviors, the Electoral Justice will not shy away from doing .
“Of course, in all these periods we have an immense concern with the dissemination of disinformation, with disinformation campaigns that are orchestrated by inauthentic behavior, the court is obviously aware of this, taking preventive measures and obviously we are, first of all, adopting the perspective according to which deformed information is fought, it is faced with correct information”, he declared.
“Of course, if we need to get to the point where the electoral court has to sanction certain behaviors, the Electoral Justice will obviously not shy away from exercising its sanctioning and punitive activity”, he reinforced.
Fachin did not name President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) when making these warnings, although he defended the current voting model. Bolsonaro has made harsh attacks – without presenting evidence – against the reliability of electronic voting machines.
Armed forces
The president of the TSE defended the participation of the Armed Forces in supporting the work of the court in the preparation of the elections, either helping with the logistics of sending the ballot boxes to the most remote electoral areas or the presence in the Commission for the Transparency of Elections, which he said has been “technique”.
“There is no indication of any fissure in the institutional framework of the Armed Forces,” he said, noting that he does not see any type of initiative by the military that could jeopardize the outcome of the election.
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Bolsonaro has repeatedly used the discourse of proximity to and ascendancy over the military to defend the legality of the electoral process.
Fachin said that the “noise” is in the field of politics and that, in the legal field and in the administration of the elections, there is “no circumstance that is preventing the normal course of the schedule” of the election, assuring that there will be the election in October and the graduation of the chosen ones until the 19th of December.
When indirectly refuting a recurring comment by Bolsonaro, the president of the TSE said that there is no “dark room” in the Electoral Justice and that the process is “deeply transparent” and open to inspection entities.
Fachin repeated that the court has acted to ensure the presence of international observers and guests to monitor stages of the electoral process.
Debate
THE CNN will hold the first presidential debate of 2022. The confrontation between the candidates will be broadcast live on August 6, on TV and on our digital platforms
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
