Bolsonaro back in electoral court as he stares into political abyss By Reuters

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who’s clinging to his political future after testing Brazil’s democracy to its limits in final yr’s election, is again in electoral courtroom for a second day of hearings on Tuesday.

If Bolsonaro is discovered responsible of abusing his energy final yr for spreading falsehoods to ambassadors about Brazil’s digital voting system, he may very well be barred from political workplace till 2030. The federal electoral courtroom (TSE) is unlikely to ship its verdict on Tuesday, however Benedito Gonçalves, the lead justice on the case, could properly solid his vote, setting the tone for the opposite judges.

The outlook seems bleak for Bolsonaro, a profession politician who was till not too long ago Brazil’s strongest man. The far-right nationalist narrowly misplaced Brazil’s most fraught election in a technology to his leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and faces an institutional reckoning for having solid a nationwide election denial motion.

“Everybody appears to say that it is possible I will be barred from workplace,” Bolsonaro informed the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper in an interview printed this week. “I will not despair. What can I do?”

Political ineligibility will not be the top of Bolsonaro’s issues. The 68-year-old additionally faces a number of legal investigations that would nonetheless put him behind bars.

Lots of his former allies have turned their backs on him, pinning their hopes on new right-wingers like Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio Freitas and Minas Gerais Governor Romeu Zema.

Bolsonaro’s finest hope at relevance could lie along with his household, together with his spouse and lawmaker sons, who may additionally harbor their very own presidential ambitions. He informed the Folha de S. Paulo that his spouse Michelle may properly be a presidential candidate in 2026, however famous she lacked political expertise.