The decision of the electoral body comes just days after the first round of the presidential elections was held, in which Lula won by 48.4% against Jair Bolsonaro’s 43.1%, giving rise to a second round between the two that will take place on October 30.
The TSE minister, Paulo de Tarso Sanseverino, gave the order to unsubscribe 31 posts made on Twitter and Facebook in which the former Brazilian president is directly related to the curtailment of religious freedom for Christians in Nicaragua under the presidency of Daniel Ortega.
Sanseverino ruled that the publications contain “grossly false information” and realized that they were “Disclosed in the critical period of the electoral process, in a profile with a high number of followers” with the aim of “generating a high number of visits”.
As the TSE minister pointed out, the dissemination of these publications “allows, in theory, negative repercussions that are difficult to repair in the image of the political party and the candidate affected by the misinformation.”
The Twitter and Facebook messages that must be deleted are found in the senator’s accounts Flavio Bolsonaro, son of the president; of allies of the president and the Gazeta de Povo newspaper, close to Bolsonarism.
One of the publications of one of Bolsonaro’s sons that had not yet been eliminated until now is dated September 30 and indicates: “The ex-con hates Christians…if he comes back, you know what will happen to priests, pastors, nuns, and everyone who believes in God, right?”.
Another of the fake news was spread by the aforementioned newspaper, based on an article spread by Twitter in which they state: “Lula-supported dictatorship takes the CNN signal off the air”. There they link the former president with the Ortega regime and with religious persecution.
The Workers’ Party led by Lula called on the TSE to take action on the matter, arguing that the content of the publications “are manifestly false” and “seek to associate that the candidate Lula would strongly support an authoritarian regime and that it persecutes Christians.” .
From the TSE they reported that if the publications are not eliminated in the next 24 hours, a penalty of 10,000 reais those responsible for them.
Different allies of Bolsonaro also tried to affect Lula’s image by associating him with satanic rituals. It should be noted that Brazil is considered the country with the largest population of Christian Catholics in the world, with 64% of citizens self-declared faithful to one of the most popular religions on the planet.
In the midst of the accusations, Lula’s campaign came out to express the close relationship between the PT candidate and the Catholic religion through various publications, including some where they show him in the company of Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis. In addition, this afternoon Lula held a meeting with Franciscan priests who expressed their support for the second round.
Source: Ambito
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