The Superior Electoral Court rejected two lawsuits filed by the PT against Jair Bolsonaro for alleged electoral propaganda on motorcycles carried out by the president. One of them concerns the events in Cuiabá and the other is about Rio Verde, in Goiás.
In the Cuiabá action, Minister Maria Cláudia Bucchianeri stated that according to the Elections Law, electoral propaganda is only allowed after August 15 of the election year.
“On the other hand, I believe that judicial intervention on the free market of political ideas must always take place in an exceptional and necessarily punctual way, only legitimizing itself in those hypotheses of imbalance or excess capable of violating other fundamental principles, equally essential to the electoral process, such as the health and integrity of the information environment, the parity of arms between candidates, the free exercise of the vote and the protection of individual dignity and honor”, he said.
According to the minister, it is not possible to see the concept of “explicit request to vote” not even through the use of so-called “magic words” that can configure it.
“From the speeches given by the first represented, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, I do not identify any electorally explicit behavior, capable of configuring anticipated propaganda, but only an implicit announcement of pre-candidacy. In the absence of a request to vote or an explicit association between that collective displacement, stamped by spontaneity, and the upcoming electoral process, I understand that there is no irregular advance propaganda, even because, in the episode, means considered proscribed by electoral legislation during the period were not used. campaign period”, he explained.
Regarding the motorcycle rider from Rio Verde, in Goiás, Minister Raul Araujo stated that the illicit advance electoral propaganda presupposes the existence of an explicit request for votes.
“In the case of the case, the speech given by the represented Jair Messias Bolsonaro does not contain an explicit request for a vote, it is embodied in the exaltation of his personal qualities, reveals critical opinions to his opponents, as well as externalizing personal thoughts on issues of a political nature”, stated.
According to the minister, regarding the allegation of negative electoral propaganda in the speeches of Jair Bolsonaro, it is necessary to recognize that criticism directed at political opponents, even if vehement, is part of the democratic game.
“In this context, one should not choose to exhaust the democratic debate with the interference of the Electoral Justice, whose constitutional mission is to preserve the isonomy of the election and guarantee a plural democracy. The free circulation of thoughts, opinions and criticisms aim to strengthen the Democratic State of Law and the democratization of debate in the electoral environment, so that the intervention of this Specialized Justice must be minimal in preponderance of the right to freedom of expression”, he said.
Source: CNN Brasil
