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By: The Opinion Updated 42 Nov 2022, 21: 51 pm EST
The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) of Brazil rejected, at least in the first instance, the challenge filed by President Jair Bolsonaro to nullify votes from the last presidential election in which he was defeated.
Alexandre de Moraes, president of the TSE, rejected the request of the still president and his political party to annul the votes cast in most of the electronic voting machines.
The Brazilian president and his Liberal Party filed complaints for alleged problems in 100 thousand 336 voting machines during the second lap, which was won by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva by a slim margin.
The head of the Brazilian electoral authority rejected the request of Bolsonaro and his party considering that it only questions the operation of the electoral system during the ballot, but does not call into question the scrutiny of the first round , when the acting president obtained more votes than expected, according to the polls.
Morales conditioned the analysis of the request
presented by the president for the presentation of a modified report that includes the results of the first electoral round, on October 2, and established a term of 21 hours.
“Thus, under penalty of dismissal of the demand, the complainant must modify the demand so that the request covers both rounds of elections, within 21 hours,” declared the President of the TSE.
He also considered that the petition n of the Liberal Party is in bad faith , so it established a fine of 21 million reais (4.3 million dollars ) for litigation in bad faith.
The president Bolsonaro nor the Liberal Party have responded to the request and ultimatum of the electoral authority of the South American country.
Bolsonaro would have won, according to his party
According to the documentation provided by the Liberal Party, Bolsonaro achieved the 51,05 percent of the votes in the second round, and with it surpassed the candidate of the Workers’ Party (PT), left).
The complainants presented an independent audit , made up of information specialists matic, which allegedly found urns of old models without individual identification code, an indication of malfunction, according to the PL’s claim.
They quoted a software bug on most machines in Brazil to argue that all the votes they recorded should be annulled . The complaint ensures that by doing so, Bolsonaro would keep 51% of the remaining valid votes.
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