Brazil’s Ministry of Defense has clarified Thursday that although it found no evidence of fraud during the last elections, this does not mean that the possibility of irregularities can be ruled out.
In a note released a day after it sent to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) its conclusions on the elections, Defense clarifies that «to avoid distortions in the content» of the report it is clarified that although the military technicians have not indicated it, «the possibility of the existence of fraud or inconsistency in the electronic ballot boxes is not excluded».
The communiqué does not include anything new, but it does criticize that attempts are being made to control the content of the previous report, whose publication is expected with great expectation, especially among the followers of Jair Bolsonaro.
During the presentation of that report, the Brazilian Minister of Defense, Paulo Nogueira, demanded the TSE an authorization to investigate how to improve the electronic voting system, despite the fact that «no discrepancies were observed between the printed results and the final tally», according to the conclusions.
The suggestions present in the Armed Forces report could fuel conspiracy theories from Bolsonaro’s supporters, who has been attacking the TSE and Brazil’s voting system practically since he prevailed in the 2018 elections.
It has been precisely because of these attacks on the voting system and electronic ballot boxes that President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has demanded Bolsonaro to apologize, as well as for the role he has forced the Armed Forces to play during these elections.
«Bolsonaro has a debt with the Brazilian people, apologize for the amount of lies he told during the elections and against the electronic ballot boxes,» Lula said Thursday during an event in Brasilia.
Lula also demanded that his rival also issue a public apology to the Armed Forces, which he would have «humiliated, he stressed, after the report on the elections was left swimming. «He has been accusing for so long. A president cannot lie, it is not acceptable,» he remarked.
