Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been ruled ineligible until 2030 for abuse of power related to some statements made about the regularity of Brazil’s electoral system before last year’s election. A majority of the seven judges of the Supreme Electoral Court in Brasilia voted to bar the former president from political office for eight years. That means Bolsonaro can’t run in the next presidential elections, but he can in 2030 when he turns 75. Judges argued the former president abused his powers when he summoned ambassadors to his residence last year and made unsubstantiated claims about the South American country’s electronic voting system ahead of last year’s election, which current leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won. Two judges sided with Bolsonaro, saying he had the right to freely express his opinion: the deciding vote was cast by Minister Carmen Lúcia. Lula’s predecessor announced that he would appeal the decision: “Today I was stabbed in the back.”
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