Opposition blames president for 2022 elections in Brazil Zaich Bolsonaru, following an unconfirmed publication in the Estado de S.Paulo newspaper, which caused shock, according to which the Minister of Defense of the government told the Speaker of the Lower House that The scheduled 2022 presidential election will not take place without printed ballots.
The report, which was cited by anonymous sources and which Reuters could not independently verify, shocked Brazilian politicians from across the ideological spectrum. In fact, as broadcast by APE-MPE, it comes to a follow-up to repeated public statements by far-right President Bolsonaro that Brazil ‘s e – voting system is vulnerable to fraud. The Brazilian head of state has not presented any evidence for these allegations.
The Estado de S. Paulo reported that the Minister of Defense, General Walter Braga Neto, gave a third person message to Parliament Speaker Arthur Lira stating that printed ballot papers should be used in the 2022 presidential election.
Both Lira and Walter Braga Neto denied the report, calling it a “lie”.
The defense minister, speaking at an event in Brasilia, said the armed forces were committed to democracy and freedom.
In the footsteps of Trump
However, Bolsonaru has stepped up his attacks in recent weeks against the e-voting system, which has been in place since 1996. reinforcing concerns and fears that the former paratrooper captain will seek to create a climate of tension and will not accept a possible defeat in 2022.
Earlier this month, the Brazilian president said that would hand over power to the winner of next year’s election if the process is clear, but “not if it was rigged.”
Following his 2018 election victory, the head of state has repeatedly made allegations – completely unfounded – of election fraud in Brazil. Opponents of the president and political observers say he is laying the groundwork to challenge the outcome of the election if he loses, imitating his political idol, former US President Donald Trump.
In recent months, Bolsonaru has been pushing for a bill that would print ballots and prevent voting, as has usually been the case in recent years, with the highly modern electronic voting system. He argues that paper ballots are easier to check and recalculate, thus reducing the risk of fraud. Few experts share his opinion. The bill has not been passed in Congress.
“Coup d’etat” intentions
“There will be printed ballots, because if they do not exist, this is an indication that there will be no elections. “The message is clear,” he said earlier this month.
They attacks on the electoral system provoked the outcry of the opposition and the mainstream media, which saw the “coup” intentions of the president, nostalgic for the military junta (1964-1985).
Threats against the democratic order had already taken another form in early July, when the Ministry of Defense and army commanders warned that “they will not tolerate any attack” on them.
Yesterday’s publication of the Estado de S.Paulo shocked Brazil, where the 1964 coup led to 21 years of military junta.
“In a democracy, it is not the army that decides whether or not to hold elections, but the Constitution that they swore to defend and obey,” said Marcelo Ramos, a deputy speaker of the lower house, in a note.
Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Rodrigo Maya tweeted and demanded explanations from the Minister of Defense. “Brazil is awaiting a statement from the Minister of Defense and the commanders of the Armed Forces in connection with the most serious reports in today’s publication,” he said.
Referring to his childhood in Chile, where his family fled to escape the Brazilian junta, Rodrigo Maya watched the rise of the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, stressing: “History is relentless. He insists on repeating himself. “
Brazil’s electoral tribunal has repeatedly denied that the electronic voting system is vulnerable to fraud or that there is evidence of fraud in previous elections.
At the same time, the far-right president called Luis Roberto Barroso, the president of the Supreme Electoral Court, “stupid”, after the latter assured that the electronic voting system is reliable and that the printed ballots could instead expose the manipulation of the past “
The far-right leader’s popularity has plummeted and he appears to be overwhelmed by possible revelations by a Senate committee examining the chaotic handling of the pandemic by his government.
The country has mourned nearly 543,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic because of Covid-19, the second-worst death toll on the planet, behind the United States alone, and the third-highest in the world, behind the United States and India.
According to the latest polls, the center-left former president Luis Inassi Lula da Silva would prevail in the 2022 presidential election with a big lead over the current head of state.
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