Election in Brazil: Conciliatory revelations in Bolsonaro’s entourage

Former Justice Minister Jair Bolsonaro, now in the United States, was expected on Friday to be on firm footing by Brazilian officials after discovering a draft decree that would have allowed Lula’s presidential election to be annulled.

This highly compromising document, revealed Thursday evening by Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, was discovered during a federal police raid at the home of former minister Anderson Torres. Collusion among the Bolsonaros who attacked the seats of power in Brasilia on Sunday”.

“We are going to wait until Monday for him to appear. If this does not happen, we will start the procedure to extradite him next week,” Justice Minister Flavio Tino of leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da announced on Friday. Silva has been in office since January 1.

Mr. Torres has repeatedly declared his innocence and promised to return to Brazil to surrender to authorities, without giving a specific date.

A three-page document found at his home said, “The Central Government should take control of the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE), which oversees the smooth conduct of the polling process for the 2022 presidential election, to ensure the preservation and restoration of transparency.”

A move considered unconstitutional by many legal experts. In effect, the aim would have been to nullify the election of Lula, who narrowly defeated far-right President Jair Bolsonaro on October 30.

– “Link in the putschist chain” –

According to La Folha de S. Paulo, which exposed the scandal, the draft may be the first indisputable evidence that Jair Bolsonaro’s entourage was preparing for a failed coup.

A presidential decree – which never saw the light of day – was issued to replace the TSE with the creation of an “Election Regulation Commission”, headed by a majority of the members of the Ministry of Defense (8 out of 17).

The document is undated, but Jair Bolsonaro’s name appears at the end where it is provided for his signature.

“While 33 million people were starving, they were preparing for a coup,” tweeted leftist Senator Randolph Rodríguez, head of the Lula government’s upper house, on Friday.

“This shows that what we saw on January 8 (invasion of Brasília’s seats of power) was not an isolated act. (The draft decree) is one of the links in a chain of rulers,” Flavio Dino had already announced Thursday evening. .

– Unbelievable costs –

Federal police told AFP they could not comment on an ongoing investigation.

Mr Torres, who is in the US, said on Twitter on Thursday evening that the draft was “probably in the pile of documents that should be destroyed in due course” and that its contents had been leaked and were considered “out of order”. its environment”.

He was already on US soil when several thousand Bolsonaros stormed and ransacked the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court in the Brazilian capital on Sunday.

The former minister had been head of security for the Federal District of Brasilia since January 2, but went on vacation shortly after.

Brazilian news was marked by other embarrassing revelations about Jair Bolsonaro’s mandate: the incredible spending with the president’s credit card, 20,000 euros spent at one time in a casual restaurant in northern Brazil, or 10,000 euros the next day at his son’s bakery. Wedding.

Account statements for the president’s credit cards for his four years in office (2019-2022) have been released on the Lula government’s official online site, beginning to lift the 100 years of secrecy imposed on his predecessor’s accounts. Thousands are official documents.