At the center of tension between the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) and the military, this Monday the 20th, the Electoral Transparency Commission brought together 17 members to evaluate the results of the group’s nine months of existence and organize the following initiatives. In the presence of government-appointed military representative Jair Bolsonaro (LP) to join the team of General Heber Garcia Portella, TSE president Edson Fachin said that a politician who doubts his voter is not worthy of the mandate he is exercising and dishonors the government of the history of democracy.

“Selective Justice is ready to conduct the 2022 elections cleanly and transparently, as it has been for the past 90 years,” Fachin said. “For over 90 years, this has been the job of electoral justice: letting the voter have their say. Let him speak freely. Let him speak fully. voters, from the north to the south of the country,” he added.

According to the minister, anyone who questions the electoral system is actually questioning the choice of voters. The speeches were made without mentioning Bolsonaro or the military, which Estadao revealed had begun replicating the President’s speech in repeated questions sent to the TSE. Despite the firmness of his statements, Fashin sought to weaken relations with the military. Last Friday, the 17th, he sent a letter to the Minister of Defense, Paulo Sergio Nogueira, in which he repeated his invitation to General Portella to attend this Monday’s meeting.

Shortly before the meeting, Nogueira told the TSE president that a member of the armed forces would be attending the event, but backed up a request for the Court to hold a private meeting between military technicians and an electoral judge to decide on defense proposals for this year’s elections. The Department of Defense had already requested a meeting last week between agency technicians to “resolve any differences.”

The military and the TSE are facing an institutional crisis provoked by Bolsonaro, who blames the court for not following the military’s proposals for the October elections. At a meeting this Monday, Fashin clarified the president’s statements, saying that 32 of the 44 proposals for improving the electoral process presented by the commission were fully or partially approved, 5 of which were sponsored by the military. He also explained that the 12 proposals that were not granted were due to the expiration of a deadline set by the Electoral Court or a violation of the General Data Protection Act.

“There is no doubt that there were “eyes” and answers to all questions. From technical details to statistical weighting, we rely on the experience and knowledge of the best in the various fields in which the electoral process operates,” Fachin said. “There is no doubt that transparency is one of the most important elements for assessing the quality of democracy,” he said.

At the core of the recent institutional crisis between the executive branch and the TSE, the Commission on Electoral Transparency has become the subject of political speculation. As Estadão testified, Fashin refused any measures in this sense and decided to keep the group in place until the end of the elections. On Monday, he explained that the group’s next activities include participating in the sealing and signing ceremony of the electoral systems, the preparation of electronic voting machines, and other activities scheduled for the electoral verification schedule.