LP, party President Jair Bolsonarosaid Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) what Meeting between the chief executive and ambassadors, in which he criticized the electoral system, was not of a political nature and cannot be considered negative election campaigning. According to the party, this was a government meeting and not Bolsonaro’s election campaign.
On June 18, the president gathered ambassadors and diplomatic representatives at Alvorada Palace, criticized the electoral system, voiced suspicions about electronic voting machines, and attacked the ministers of the TSE and the Federal Supreme Court (STF). After the event, opposition parties questioned the president’s position and demanded that the materials of the meeting be removed from social networks.
However, the PL argued that the event was hosted by Bolsonaro as head of state and not as a preliminary candidate, “by the way, without the presence of any PL party leader,” the defense says. The party also stated that, given the official nature of the event, the TSE is not empowered to look into any irregularities, “given the implicit lack of connection to a dispute between (pre-)candidates in the upcoming elections.”
Event with ambassadors
At an event with ambassadors, Bolsonaro recalled the investigation launched by the Federal Police to investigate possible intrusions into TSE systems in 2018. “The hacker clearly said that he has access to everything that is inside the TSE. to the password of the Minister of TSE, as well as other authorities. According to the TSE, the hackers were in computers for eight months,” the President commented.
The CEO was the subject of an investigation launched by the STF for leaking information about a secret police investigation on air in 2021.
At another point, Bolsonaro claimed that there were videos of almost a hundred people with possible errors in electronic voting machines in the 2018 elections, in which he emerged victorious. “We have almost a hundred videos of people who were going to vote for me, but went to someone else. And not a single video showing the opposite. We want to correct the shortcomings, we want transparency and real democracy,” he said.
Bolsonaro also defended the participation of the armed forces in the elections. The military was called to sit on the Electoral Transparency Commission and made a number of proposals, some of which were accepted and others rejected by the Electoral Court. “Cyber Defense Command is something extremely serious, with more than capable and reliable people.”
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The meeting caused a resonance among politicians, authorities and diplomats. Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG) said that a strong democracy is built around diversity, but that the security of the electoral system can no longer be questioned. The Supreme Court has asked the public not to fall for the false news about electronic voting machines.
The Association of Brazilian Diplomats (ADB) issued a public note defending the e-voting process. The document emphasizes that the Brazilian system has aroused the interest of the international community. “Since the introduction of the Brazilian e-voting system in 1996, there have been repeated requests for international cooperation in the transfer of knowledge and technology,” the text says.