Bolsonaro Threatens to Disregard Results of the 2022 Elections

On Wednesday, Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro criticized the electronic voting system and threatened to disregard the outcome of the 2022 presidential elections if paper ballot voting is not adopted.

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"If that method continues, we are going to have problems because one side may not accept the result. And that side, obviously, will be our side," the far-right politician said.

"We are going to have problems next year," Bolsonaro stressed in allusion to the upcoming elections in which the Workers' Party (PT) leader Lula da Silva would be the winner, as all current polls predict.

In Brazil, the electronic voting system was adopted more than two decades ago and used during the 2018 elections that brought Bolsonaro to power. However, the former Capitan now says that electronic voting allows fraud and claims he has "proof" of that.

Since he claims that there was even fraud in the 2018 elections, the Superior Electoral Court demanded that he present the evidence he swears he has. Instead of proving his allegations, however, Bolsonaro demands the electoral authorities to "present some proof that there is no fraud" with the electronic ballot boxes.

Previously, the far-right President presented a bill to Congress to reestablish paper ballot voting. So far, eleven political parties, including some center and right-wing organizations, have spoken out against his proposal and in favor of keeping the electronic voting system.

In response to the lawmakers and their criticisms, Bolsonaro reiterated that "they can create many problems for next year". He insists his bill only intends that "the vote be auditable and transparent".