‘I am not afraid of elections. I will give the presidential sash to whoever wins after a verifiable and reliable vote,” Bolsonaro told supporters in the capital Brasilia. According to a recent poll, Bolsonaro is far behind his main rival, left-wing ex-president Lula, 49 to 35 percent in the second round. Bolsonaro’s position has been weakened because he did little against the corona pandemic that caused many victims in Brazil. More than half of Brazilians think he is doing poorly.
The president faces street protests and a parliament inquiry into his policy on the pandemic. In addition, a judicial investigation is underway into corruption in the purchase of vaccines.
Bolsonaro now opts for the Trump method: to sow doubt in advance about the fairness of the election, so that he can contest a possible defeat. He urged Congress to allow paper ballots in addition to the voting computers that have been used since 1996. ‘With the current electoral system, we run the risk that there will be no elections next year. Your future is at stake,” he told his supporters. Like Trump, Bolsonaro is supported by his family. Via social media, his sons Eduardo, Flavio and Carlos spread the story that the elections threaten to be unfair.
President of the Electoral Court, Roberto Barroso, called Bolsonaro’s statements “deplorable.” He said the elections will continue as usual on the scheduled date. The Electoral Court asked the president for evidence of the danger of fraud. Bolsonaro replied that the Court cannot prove that there is no risk of fraud either. He called Barroso a ‘fool’.
Bolsonaro has ordered federal police to collect information about electoral fraud over the past 25 years. He also wants voting computers to print a confirmation of every vote, so that the votes can be counted manually if fraud is suspected.
Vote printing is a “risky solution to a problem that does not exist,” Judge Barroso told AP news agency. Voting computers can already be controlled and the printing of votes could endanger the secrecy of the electoral process, leaving voters vulnerable to pressure from militias and drug cartels.
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