MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolsonaro reminds voters next president will have 2 STF vacancies to fill

Since 1989, nobody has won the elections without Minas Gerais' support

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro Friday pledged to appoint anti-abortion judges in case he wins next month's elections for which opposition candidate Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva is reportedly the favorite, according to all polls.

The incumbent head of state promised to pick anti-abortion magistrates to fill the vacancies in the Supreme Federal Court (STF). He also insisted his political opponents were all criminals.

Bolsonaro prevails among evangelical voters while Lula appears to have the support of most Catholics.

During a speech in Divinópolis, in the State of Minas Gerais, Bolsonaro tried to impose the conservative agenda nine days before the elections underlining Lula's alleged pro-abortion stance.

In Brazil, abortion is allowed when the mother is at risk, when the pregnancy stems from rape, and in cases of fetal anencephaly (the baby has no brain and therefore no chance of survival).

“We will not allow abortion to be discussed in Brazil. Don't forget that the next president must nominate two judges for the supreme court next year. With my reelection, these two who will go to the court will never be pro-abortion,” he said. He has already appointed two Supreme Court justices.

Bolsonaro staged a motorcycle caravan through the city of Divinópolis in Minas Gerais, the second most populous state behind São Paulo, where Lula is ahead and is believed to be “the witness state”. No president has ever made it to Brasilia since 1989 without winning over Minas Gerais.

The right-wing president reiterated his diatribe against the STF where he is under investigation for anti-democratic acts, such as accusing the electoral justice that the electronic ballot boxes were subject to fraud.

“Nobody rules in the Republic, only the people. And the will of the people will be fully carried out. My government has always played within the Constitution and if I am reelected, everyone will have to play within the Constitution, without exception, because no one has unlimited power,” Bolsonaro underlined.