by ICL Noticias
In Brazil, each election cycle, three Supreme Court justices are chosen to preside over the country's Superior Electoral Court. This year, the two justices appointed to Brazil's top court by former president Jair Bolsonaro are currently overseeing the elections in Brazil as the president and the vice president of the electoral court. As this article explains, their decisions have been decisively in favor of Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of Jair Bolsonaro. -PD
Ever since it became known months ago that Justices Kassio Nunes Marques and André Mendonça would be presiding over the Superior Electoral Court during this year’s elections, concerns arose over their potential bias while ruling on campaign-related matters.
After all, both were appointed to the Supreme Court by Jair Bolsonaro with the explicitly stated mission of representing the former president within the Court. Unfortunately, recent decisions made by the two appear to confirm this favoritism toward the Bolsonaro camp.
The Vice President of the Superior Electoral Court, Justice Andre Mendonça, shakes hands with Judge Nunes Marques, President of the Superior Electoral Court on May 12, 2026. Both were appointed to the Supreme Court by Jair Bolsonaro. (Photo by Sergio LIMA / AFP via Getty Images)
In the most controversial of these rulings, Nunes Marques ordered the suspension this Sunday, October 11, of the “Lula’s Army” channel on WhatsApp. The channel was created by Congressman André Janones. It has 3.3 million followers. Flávio Bolsonaro requested that it be suspended. Justice Nunes Marques went further, barring new posts and banning the addition of new followers until the certification of the runoff election results, scheduled for October 25.
This absurd measure was ultimately overturned by the Super Electoral Court’s Inspector General. The matter will now be brought before the full court.
Before the censorship order was revoked, Lula commented on the decision, saying, ”We will not allow the shutdown of a channel belonging to a congressman who is asking people who want to vote for me to join the ‘Lula’s Army’ channel. It is simply unacceptable for the head of the Electoral Court not to act in a civilized, republican manner, allowing the election to proceed without judicial interference.”
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is running for reelection, made the statement while speaking at a rally on Paulista Avenida in São Paulo.
“We will not accept undue interference by the Electoral Court in the election,” he said.
The decision to pull “Lula’s Army” channel offline was made without hearing the opposing argument. In other words, without hearing from the defense of those who created this campaign tool. Also, Nunes Marques cited Article 9-D to justify the channel being taken down. But this refers to halting access to content, not shutting down the channel itself. Earlier that same Sunday, Nunes Marques had ordered the immediate suspension of a Lula campaign ad linking Flávio to allegations of corruption and money laundering involving Banco Master.
Bizarre rulings like these, including the censorship of a campaign spot that merely presented Flávio’s criminal “track record” based on reports published by major media outlets, have characterized this election season.
André Mendonça is another figure playing a role that looks more like that of a Bolsonaro activist than a magistrate. Yesterday, he banned Lula’s Workers’ Party, PT, from running paid social media ads stating that candidate Flávio Bolsonaro opposes ending the “6x1” work schedule. This, despite the fact that it is actually a position Bolsonaro himself has repeatedly reiterated in interviews.
The ruling granted a request filed by Flávio’s legal team, which cited a Facebook video in which the Workers’ Party claimed Bolsonaro was actively working against the proposal currently moving through the Senate. Justice André Mendonça is acting against the very words of the candidate he seeks to protect.
How could one forget Mendonça’s decision to take down all social media posts mentioning Our Lady of Aparecida? This was done in retaliation for a post by comedian Antonio Tabet that linked a “militia family” to the rejection of Brazil’s Patron Saint.
Meanwhile, a flood of Bolsonaro-aligned fake news targeting Lula is circulating across digital platforms, and especially messaging apps, without any judicial response. Even Meta’s admission that its mechanisms contained biases that disadvantage Lula has gone unaddressed.
It is imperative that the justices of the Superior Electoral Court, and in particular André Mendonça and Nunes Marques, return to the path of protecting the institution of Brazilian democracy.
Otherwise, this presidential election will go down in history as the contest in which the Superior Electoral Court chose one of the candidates.
If things continue this way, the death of democracy will be sealed even before the Congress, with its pro-Bolsonaro majority, takes office in 2027.
This article was originally published by ICL Noticias. You can read the original, in Portuguese, here. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Panamerican Dispatch.