The president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Alexandre de Moraes, warned Thursday that protests and anti-democratic acts that oppose the results of Sunday’s elections «will be fought with the law» and those responsible punished, while the police try to unblock the mobilizations that have disrupted traffic in several cities for the past four days.
«The elections are over, the second round ended democratically. The TSE proclaimed the winner and he will take office on January 1, 2023. That is democracy, that is alternation of power, that is republican state,» De Moraes remarked during the first session of the court after Sunday’s elections, in which Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won with 50.9 percent of the votes.
«There is no need to contest a democratic result with illicit, anti-democratic, criminal movements, which will be fought and those responsible punished with the law. Democracy won again in Brazil», emphasized the also magistrate of the Supreme Court.
De Moraes warned that those who «criminally» do not accept the results and carry out anti-democratic acts, «will be treated as criminals», at a time when mobilizations continue in which the Army is being asked to intervene and carry out a coup d’état to the institutions.
On the other hand, he also wanted to highlight the speed and efficiency with which the electronic ballot boxes worked, a target of Bolsonaro who accused them of being unreliable, pointing out that only three hours after the closing of the polling stations, the electoral authorities had already confirmed the winning candidacy.
Since Lula da Silva’s victory was confirmed this Sunday, hundreds of Jair Bolsonaro’s followers began to block the access roads of the main cities all over the country, with encampments even in Sao Paulo in front of one of the Army headquarters to ask between prayers for a coup d’état.
In some places, such as in the state of Santa Catalina, the use of minors as human shields during the blockades has been denounced, and even dozens of people have been seen swearing the flag under the Nazi salute.
Although Bolsonaro himself asked his followers to lift the blockades on Wednesday, they continue amid criticism of the Federal Road Police (PRF), which depends on the central government, which is accused of not acting as diligently as it should.
