The President of the TSE (Supreme Electoral Court), Minister Alexandre de Moraes, on Tuesday (18) determined that the Ministry of Defense should present a possible report on the parallel investigation conducted by the military in the first round of this year’s elections. .

Alexandre de Moraes is Minister of the STF and President of the TSE. Photo: Fabio Rodriguez Pozzebom/Agência Brasil/ND

In the decision, Moraes stipulates a deadline of 48 hours for the presentation of the results, and the ministry must also indicate the source of the funds used. In addition, the president and PL candidate for re-election, Jair Bolsonaro, will have five days to present his defense.

The President of the TSE states in the decision that the use of the portfolio for political purposes may constitute an abuse of purpose and an abuse of power.

“On the other hand, the news that the Armed Forces are checking the ballot boxes by serving a report to a candidate for re-election seems to demonstrate the intention to satisfy the electoral will expressed by the Chief Executive, which can theoretically characterize a deviation from the goal and an abuse of power,” says Moraes.

This year, the Department of Defense made several inquiries to the TSE and expressed doubts about the safety of electronic voting machines, despite the fact that the equipment goes through several stages of preparation and testing both inside and out. As R7 showed, the military’s requests were the first in 26 years of voting in Brazil.

TCU

Acting Chairman of the Union Accounts Chamber, Minister Bruno Dantas, also accepted a request for the Ministry of Defense to submit a report on a parallel investigation conducted by the military regarding the first round of the 2022 elections.

“The request made by the Deputy Attorney General at the GTS is forwarded to Part 254 for submission to the Department of Defense in accordance with the law,” reads the document signed by Dantas.

The request was prepared by Deputy Prosecutor Lucas Furtado on the 7th: “I propose to request from the Ministry of Defense, as a matter of urgency, as required by the case, a copy of the audit report or a related document disclosing the results of the audit carried out by this body of the electoral process associated with the first round voting,” the magistrate asks.

“I add that the Federal Constitution in Article 5, Clause XXXIII allows secrecy in rare cases, one of them is when the information is necessary for the security of the state, in which case it is the security of the state that will be strengthened by the disclosure of information, such information,” Furtado emphasizes .

The report contacted the Secretary of Public Relations to the President and the Department of Defense, but did not receive a response until this report was last updated.