Politics · Brazil · 3 hrs ago
Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro filed at least 470 election cases before first round
Brazilian President Lula and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro filed at least 470 cases with the Superior Electoral Court from the start of the official campaign on August 16 through the first-round vote on October 4.
Lula’s campaign filed 227 cases and won 59, while Flávio’s filed 243 and won 33, counting only cases brought by the candidate who prevailed.
Many successful cases sought to remove opponents’ social media posts or suspend campaign ads.
Flávio’s campaign, for example, secured the removal of posts falsely claiming he would strip Our Lady of Aparecida of her role as Brazil’s patron saint if elected.
Judges disagreed over whether those posts should be removed, and the electoral court ultimately upheld the removal order while allowing one humorist’s post to remain.
The legal disputes also involved claims about the Banco Master case and AI-generated videos linking Flávio to wrongdoing.
Lula and Flávio are due to face each other in a runoff on October 25, and their legal battle has intensified in the second round.
Lula’s campaign won 59 election-court cases in the first round, compared with 33 won by Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign.
The campaigns filed at least 470 actions with Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court from the start of the campaign through the first-round vote.
The court cases mainly sought to remove online content and suspend campaign advertisements.
Lula’s campaign filed 227 actions and Flávio’s filed 243 between August 16 and October 4.
A dispute over posts claiming Flávio would remove Our Lady of Aparecida as Brazil’s patron saint became one of the court’s major controversies.
- Who
- President Lula and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, through their campaign legal teams.
- What
- Their campaigns filed at least 470 actions with the Superior Electoral Court; Lula’s campaign secured 59 victories and Flávio’s secured 33.
- When
- From August 16 through October 4, the day of the first round.
- Where
- Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court.
- Why
- The disputes mainly concerned removing content published by opponents and suspending campaign advertisements.
Lula’s campaign
Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign
Court actions
Lula’s campaign
Lula’s team filed 227 actions and won 59 cases.
Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign
Flávio’s team filed 243 actions and won 33 cases.
Content challenged
Lula’s campaign
The article says Lula’s team sought to remove content and suspend advertisements, but gives no specific examples of its first-round victories.
Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign
Flávio’s team won actions removing content linking him to the Banco Master case, “rachadinha,” militias and the “Tariflávio” nickname.
the false content did not bring a degree of certainty of illegality to justify such harsh consequences against freedom of expression
The campaign period officially began, and the actions counted in the report started.
The first round took place, ending the period covered by the report.
- Actions filed
- At least 470
- Lula campaign
- 227 actions; 59 victories
- Flávio Bolsonaro campaign
- 243 actions; 33 victories
- Period analyzed
- August 16 to October 4
- First-round vote share
- Flávio: 47.03%; Lula: 45.16%
Sources
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