MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolsonaro calls judge opposing printed ballots “an idiot”

“Either we hold clean elections in Brazil or we don't have elections,” Bolsonaro has warned

One day after saying he could not care less -but with a harsher vocabulary- about the Senatorial Committee (CPI) investigating his management of the coronavirus pandemic, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro called Superior Electoral Court (TSE) Justice Luís Roberto Barroso “an idiot.”

Bolsonaro made those remarks after the magistrate objected to the use of a printed ballot in the 2022 presidential elections and insisted on the trustworthiness of electronic devices similar to those employed in Venezuela and the United States.

“Only an idiot can do this... He is an imbecile. A man cannot want to decide the future of Brazil in fraud,” Bolsonaro told supporters Friday.

Barroso had said Tuesday that “handling the vote without filming brings us back to the horror movie we used to live before” and that “Brazilian history with paper voting is a tragic history.“

The President once again downplayed CPI Senator Omar Aziz's request for explanations regarding his alleged misdoings in the overpriced purchase of Indian-made Covaxin immunizers, a deal that was never finalized.

Bolsonaro, a retired army captain, insisted on printed ballots for 2022. ”Either we hold clean elections in Brazil or we don't have elections,“ he had said Thursday. And one day earlier, the Armed Forces had released a statement against Congress. Aziz was harshly attacked by Defense Minister Walter Braga Netto and by the commanders of the Army, Navy and Air Force.

In a statement, the military brass denied having military personnel involved in corruption in the Ministry of Health and said that the ”narrative“ of senator Aziz ”affects the Armed Forces in a vile and frivolous way, being a serious accusation, unfounded and, above all, irresponsible”.

“The Armed Forces will not accept any light attack on institutions that defend democracy and the freedom of the Brazilian people”, the chiefs also said.

Meanwhile, according to the Datafolha polling company, Bolsonaro stands no chance of reelection in 2022. Former President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva would beat him in just the first round by 58% to 31%, according to a report released Friday.

Datafolha also tested the waters should Lula face presidential hopeful Ciro Gomes instead of Bolsonaro and victory would seem just as overwhelming for the PT leader.