RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Brazil's Superior Electoral Court voted on Friday to bar former president Jair Bolsonaro from running for public office for eight years for abuse of power, reported the German Press Agency (dpa).
If the ruling stands, it would mean that the right-wing former leader would be barred from the next presidential elections in 2026. His defence has already indicated that it would appeal.
Four judges voted in favour of the ban, while one voted against it, according to reports on Brazilian television on Friday.
The attorney general's office, which is responsible for electoral law, accused Bolsonaro of casting doubt on Brazil's electoral system during a televised meeting with foreign diplomats in July 2022.
Bolsonaro claimed that the electoral system was not secure and could be manipulated.
Bolsonaro's lawyer rejected the accusations by the attorney general's office.
Debating the electoral system should not be a taboo subject in a democracy, his lawyer was quoted as saying in a report by TV Globo.
Brazil's electoral system is electronic and passed a regular security test by Brazil's Supreme Electoral Court last May.
However, Bolsonaro repeatedly cast doubt on the reliability of the system and never conceded his electoral defeat in October against leftist leader and current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
A few days after Lula took office, radical Bolsonaro supporters stormed the Brazilian Congress, the government buildings and the Supreme Court in Brasília to show their rejection of the election result, causing considerable damage.
Only hours later did the security forces bring the situation back under control. - BERNAMA-dpa