The Workers’ Party (PT) of Brazil took another action before the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) against President Jair Bolsonaro over the motorized caravan he organized in Sao Paulo, as early election propaganda, it was confirmed this Monday.
The PT’s official website denounces that the ex-soldier led a convoy of motorcycles (about 3,700) in an action called Accelerating for Christ last Friday.
According to the lawyers Eugenio Aragão and Cristiano Zanin, responsible for the action submitted to the TSE, Bolsonaro participated in the organization of the event, proclaiming it publicly, driving his motorcycle along the established route, parading in an open vehicle and mounting a sound vehicle to hold a rally and ask for votes.
The PT argues that it excludes from the narrated events any attempt to qualify them as “derived from the exercise of the office of President of the Republic or to regard the accused as a mere beneficiary of the acts”.
The entourage summoned by the far-right leader cost the state’s public coffers nearly a million reais (about $200,000), which the Sao Paulo Public Security Secretariat said was used to increase surveillance.
“A force of more than 1,900 military police officers is deployed in the operation along the entire route to protect people, safeguard property and ensure the right of entry and exit, free participation in the act and the smooth flow of traffic,” adds the Note of the organism added.
The cost of the first motorcycle caravan in June, also led by Bolsonaro in the capital São Paulo, exceeded 1.2 million reais ($240,000) and included the participation of 1,433 police officers, five planes, 10 drones and about 600 vehicles.
The PT presented two more campaigns for contingency campaigns promoted by the former army captain in the TSE last week.
The first complaint related to the participation of the Rural Society of Paraná and MP Filipe Barros in organizing a caravan on April 8 in the southern state asking for Bolsonaro’s support. A second representation reports the presence of another convoy of people and motorcycles in the same region.
In light of the facts, the PT asked the Rural Society of Paraná to convict Bolsonaro and pay Barros a fine equal to the maximum amount allowed by law, as the event was promoted as an early election campaign.
A law sets August 16 of the election year as the day on which propaganda is allowed. In other words, any dissemination in favor of the candidates before that date must be considered premature.
First, the PT filed three lawsuits in the electoral court in the face of a new vulgarized smear campaign against former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
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