Brazil's Superior Electoral Tribunal on Friday barred far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro from politics for eight years over his unfounded claims of security flaws in the country's voting system before his election loss last year.
The seven-judge tribunal ruled 5-2 that the 68-year-old Bolsonaro abused his office and state media in making the allegations.
The decision means that Bolsonaro cannot run for the presidency in 2026, though his lawyers have said they will appeal.
Prosecutors have linked Bolsonaro's statements to his supporters invading the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court on January 8, a week after the inauguration of leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Lula defeated Bolsonaro, 68, in elections last October..
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
