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(Bloomberg) — Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes was sworn in to preside over Brazil’s electoral tribunal on Tuesday in a rite attended by dignitaries, adding President Jair Bolsonaro just weeks before what is expected to be a hotly contested election.
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Moraes assumes control of the electoral tribunal, known as TSE, at a complicated time. The ruling had to open investigations into social media campaigns aimed at undermining religion and confidence in the integrity of the e-voting formula Brazilians will use in October’s general election. elections.
In his remarks at the ceremony, Moraes alluded to those same attacks, encouraged through Bolsonaro himself during public appearances and on social media, commenting at one point that “freedom of expression is not freedom of aggression. “
However, in a sign that the two men may be open to a truce, the president attended the ceremony. Also in attendance was his left-wing challenger, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as well as several former heads of state, other presidential candidates. , government officials and the head of the central bank, Roberto Campos Neto.
In a radio interview Wednesday, Lula described Tuesday’s rite as a demonstration of civility.
Moraes’ task will not be easy. In his efforts to maintain the credibility of the election result, he is fighting an army of Bolsonaro supporters who continually spread lies on electronic ballots on social media, led by the president himself. Many Brazilian observers fear that the incumbent will put the level to emulate Donald Trump and challenge the outcome of the election if he is defeated.
“We are the democracy in the global that calculates and publishes electoral effects on the same day with agility, security, competition and transparency,” Moraes said in a speech applauded by the maximum of spectators, with the exception of Bolsonaro and members of his cabinet.
As a high judge and now at the head of the electoral authority, Moraes has at his disposal a wide diversity of teams. Among them, he leads what is known in Brazil as the Fake News Inquiry, an investigation into lies. and threats to oppose sentencing of them and their families.
Read more: Bolsonaro’s brawl with a high opinion on tests to Brazilian democracy
Moraes had already sent some of Bolsonaro’s main supporters to prison. He sentenced Congressman Daniel Silveira to prison for posting a video on social media threatening judges, though the next day Bolsonaro granted his best friend a presidential pardon. The court also briefly banned Telegram, a social media service used through Bolsonaro supporters.
Preparing for an imagined confrontation, Bolsonaro has consistently targeted Moraes and other high-level judges in public speeches, even saying he would not abide by their decisions.
However, last week the two men met at the presidential palace and Moraes invited Bolsonaro to his swearing-in rite in an obvious attempt to lessen the animosity between them.
(Updated with Lula’s comment in the fifth paragraph. )
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