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Jair Bolsonaro (archive image)
Photo: EVARISTO SA / AFP
For Jair Bolsonaro, his constant criticism of the electronic voting system in Brazil could soon have consequences.
A Supreme Court judge has ordered an investigation into the head of state for disseminating false information.
Judge Alexandre de Moraes said on Wednesday that the Supreme Court investigation will aim to determine whether the right-wing politician was guilty of "insult, defamation and defamation" among other things.
Among other things, Bolsonaro claimed in a video distributed on Facebook on Thursday that there had been election rigging in the last two presidential elections.
Accordingly, he should have won the first ballot in 2018.
The 66-year-old also railed against several Supreme Court judges.
The Supreme Electoral Court is already investigating the suspicion that Bolsonaro is abusing his "economic and political power" to question the legitimacy of the upcoming presidential elections.
It had asked the Supreme Court to look into the matter as well.
Bolsonaro had referred to the purely electronic voting system, which has been in use in Brazil since 1996, as a source of manipulation several times in the past.
He did not provide any evidence of this.
The Supreme Electoral Court sees this as the danger of undermining the elections in the coming year.
Trump as a role model for Bolsonaro
Accordingly, there are also allegations against Bolsonaro for corruption, fraud, abuse of the media and "propaganda".
With his constant, unfounded criticism of the electoral system, Bolsonaro is once again following a tactic that he may have copied from former US President Donald Trump.
Bolsonaro is not calling for a return to the use of printed ballot papers.
Instead, he wants a confirmation to be printed out every time he votes, so that the votes can also be counted analogously.
According to analysts, Bolsonaro's attacks on the electoral system suggest that, given poor poll results, he could prepare for a defeat in next year's election and respond to a possible setback with fraud allegations - again along the lines of Trump.
jok / AFP