Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro looks on at Brasilia International Airport, on the day the Electoral Justice continues the trial to determine his political rights, in Brasilia, Brazil June 29, 2023. REUTERS/Adriano Machado/File photo
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Former President Jair Bolsonaro could learn his political fate on Thursday as Brazil's federal electoral court (TSE) held a third day of hearings in a trial that could see him barred from public office for nearly a decade.
Bolsonaro, a far-right nationalist, may be ruled politically ineligible until 2030 if a majority of the Brasilia court's seven judges find he abused his power when, before the 2022 vote, he summoned ambassadors to vent unfounded claims about Brazil's voting system.
The ex-army captain narrowly lost to leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the presidential election last October.
He stands accused of having created a nationwide movement to overturn the election result that culminated in the Jan. 8 invasion of government buildings in Brasilia by thousands of his supporters. He denies any wrongdoing.
Justice Raul Araujo on Thursday voted not to convict Bolsonaro. On Tuesday, Benedito Goncalves, the lead justice in the case, had voted to convict him for abuse of political power and misuse of the media.
Elected in 2018 amid of wave of right-wing leaders that included his political idol, former U.S. President Donald Trump, Bolsonaro received global criticism for his lackluster stewardship of the Amazon rainforest, his laissez-faire approach to COVID-19 restrictions, and his evidence-free attacks on Brazil's electoral system.
The TSE trial is part of a broader reckoning in Brazil with the fallout from the country's most fraught election in a generation. While the former president faces electoral court scrutiny, many of his one-time allies are being questioned by lawmakers in a congressional probe into the Jan. 8 riots.
Speaking shortly before he flew to Rio de Janeiro on Thursday, Bolsonaro said the TSE trial was a political witch-hunt aimed at allowing Brazil's left to fight uncontested in the 2026 election in which he still hoped to run.
Nonetheless, many in Brazil, including Bolsonaro, believe he is likely to be barred from office - a stunning turnaround for a figure who was until recently Brazil's most powerful man.
"Everyone seems to say that it's likely I'm going to be barred from office," he told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper in an interview published on Tuesday. "I won't despair. What can I do?"
Bolsonaro does not risk jail in the TSE case. Nonetheless, the 68-year-old still faces multiple criminal investigations that could still put him behind bars.
Many of his former allies have turned their backs on him, pinning their hopes on new right-wingers like Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio Freitas and Minas Gerais Governor Romeu Zema.
Bolsonaro's best hope at future relevance may lie with his family, including his wife and lawmaker sons, who could also harbor their own presidential ambitions. He told the Folha de S. Paulo that his wife Michelle could well be a presidential candidate in 2026, but said she lacked political experience.
(Reporting by Ricardo Brito, Writing by Steven Grattan, Editing by Gabriel Stargardter and Angus MacSwan)
