(Brasilia) Brazil’s Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) on Thursday dismissed an elected official for the first time for disseminating false information, days after a video of President Jair Bolsonaro was removed from social media for the same reason.
Six of the seven TSE judges voted for the impeachment of the right-wing regional deputy Fernando Francischini, who sat in the Legislative Assembly of the state of Parana (south). He was also declared ineligible until 2026.
Commissioner of the Federal Police, Mr. Francischini was also one of the coordinators of Jair Bolsonaro’s campaign for the 2018 presidential election.
During a direct on social networks on the day of the first round of the poll, he said that the electronic ballot boxes had been manipulated to prevent a victory for Mr. Bolsonaro.
It is because of this declaration, made without presenting any evidence, that he was dismissed by the TSE, for “undue use of means of communication” and “abuse of political power and authority”.
This decision has immediate effect, but the deputy can still appeal to the Supreme Court, a TSE source told AFP.
A few hours earlier, the TSE had tried another case directly concerning President Bolsonaro, accused of having benefited from funding by business leaders for the massive sending of messages on WhatsApp criticizing his political opponents during the 2018 campaign.
The head of state was not sentenced, the judges considering that they did not have sufficient evidence.
But the TSE warned that, during the campaign for the 2022 general elections, “the massive sending of messages containing lies or false information” could be sanctioned for the same reasons which pushed it to remove the deputy Francischini .
Like the latter, Jair Bolsonaro has long criticized the electronic ballot box system in force since 1996, without ever providing any evidence.
This week, he was stripped from Facebook, Instagram and YouTube of his last weekly live video, in which he cited false information linking the coronavirus vaccine to AIDS.
The far-right president’s YouTube channel was blocked for seven days on Monday, and senators on Tuesday called for the suspension of his accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.