The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) of Brazil decided unanimously this Thursday to prohibit the use of images of the president, Jair Bolsonaro, on trips as head of state to London and New York, in the re-election campaign.
The decision was made in the plenary session of the TSE, whose judges agreed with the complaint filed by the candidate for the Presidency of Brazil Soraya Thronkicke against the Bolsonaro campaign, accusing him of committing abuse of political and economic power by using the official agenda with the objective to promote the candidacy for a second term.
According to a TSE statement, the videos published by the Bolsonaro campaign were made after an official act in London, in which Bolsonaro attended the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on the 19th.
However, the judge handling the case, Benedito Gonçalves, recalled in the decision accepted by the other TSE judges that in one of the videos Bolsonaro speaks at the window of the Brazilian embassy in London to a group of supporters.
“After a slight condolences to the royal family, the represented begins to deliver a speech of an eminently electoral nature. He does it with a notorious exploitation of the role of head of state, ”said the judge.
According to Brazilian law, public officials who campaign for re-election cannot use the prerogatives of the position to benefit themselves, under penalty of affecting the equality of opportunities between the candidates in dispute.
During his speech, Bolsonaro praised the actions of his government and warned that the moment to “decide the future” of the nation is approaching, making clear allusions to the presidential elections.
Thus, the judge who informed of the action, highlighted that in “the typical performance of a candidate, the represented party goes so far as to say that it is impossible for him not to be elected in the first round.”
The TSE judge assessed that “the elements present in the records are sufficient to prohibit the Bolsonaro campaign team from using the images of his performance as President of the Republic for electoral purposes.”
Source: TSF
