By Ricardo Brito
BRASILIA (Reuters) – President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s election team sued President Jair Bolsonaro, his running mate and two of his sons for abuse of power and attacks on Brazil’s voting system, both during the October election campaign.
The two lawsuits, filed in the electoral court, seek to ban the four men from running for office in future. Bolsonaro and his vice-presidential candidate, retired army general Walter Braga Neto, narrowly lost the election.
During campaigning, Bolsonaro repeatedly criticized the country’s electronic voting system, claiming without evidence that it was open to fraud.
One lawsuit accused Bolsonaro, Braga Neto and two of the president’s sons – Senator Flavio Bolsonaro and Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro – of interfering with the elections by repeatedly attacking the electoral system and trying to build support for a military coup.
The second lawsuit accuses Bolsonaro of power abuse by illegally granting financial benefits to citizens during the campaign with the “clear intention of gaining votes and, therefore, influencing the choice of Brazilian voters, so as to harm the smoothness of the election.”
The president’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters could not reach the president’s sons for comment.
(Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Editing by Bradley Perrett)
