President Jair Bolsonaro doubled down on his attacks on Brazil’s electronic voting system Tuesday, telling a massive Independence Day rally he refused to take part in an election “farce” in 2022.
“We want clean, democratic elections, with an auditable vote and public count... I can’t participate in a farce like the one being sponsored by the Superior Electoral Tribunal,” the embattled far-right leader told a crowd of flag-waving supporters in Sao Paulo.
Mr. Bolsonaro currently trails in the polls for Brazil’s October 2022 elections, in which he is expected to face leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva -- though neither has officially declared their candidacy.
Fighting the lowest approval ratings of his presidency, a flagging economy and a series of institutions he insists are stacked against him — including the electoral court — Mr. Bolsonaro convened rallies in cities across Brazil Tuesday in a bid to fire up his supporters.
He has repeatedly attacked Brazil’s voting system, in a move that has drawn comparisons with former U.S. president Donald Trump, his political role model.
The 66-year-old former army captain claims — without evidence — that Brazil’s electronic voting system is plagued by fraud, and wants a paper copy of each ballot printed to enable an audit.
Electoral authorities say the system, introduced in Brazil in 1996, is sound, and that adding paper print-outs would only introduce a potential avenue for fraud.
