Attacked by Bolsonaro, Brazil's top judges say electronic voting is free of fraud
BRASILIA - A group of 18 active and former Brazilian Supreme
Court justices, who also act as judges in the Supreme Electoral Court, said on
Monday that the election system is free of fraud in the face of consistent
attacks by President Jair Bolsonaro.
Over the weekend, demonstrators demanded that there be a
paper trail of printed ballots, changing the current all-electronic voting
system.
Bolsonaro has in recent weeks repeatedly claimed that the
electronic voting system is subject to fraud, without providing any evidence.
He has said he might not accept the result of next year’s presidential election
if the system is not changed.
In the statement, the judges said “Brazil has eliminated a
history of election fraud”, and that since the electronic voting system was
adopted in 1996, there has never been a documented fraud case in any elections.
“The electronic voting system is subject to audits before,
during and after the election”. The judges said all the steps are monitored by
political parties, prosecutors, federal police, universities, and the Brazilian
Bar Association.
The judges said printed ballots are less safe than
electronic voting and that if Brazil goes back to manual counting of 150
million printed ballots, the chance of fraud would be higher.
The statement was sent by the judges after Bolsonaro said in
an interview with a radio station earlier on Monday that Supreme Court Justice
Luis Roberto Barroso, who currently heads the electoral court, “wants the
elections to be manipulated.”
A congressional committee will vote on Thursday on a
proposal pushed by Bolsonaro to introduce paper ballots.
Comments
Post a Comment