The president of Brazil's top electoral court, the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Justice Kassio Nunes Marques, ruled on Tuesday (Sept. 22) that President Lula of the Workers' Party must remove from social media, within 24 hours, a video recorded at the Alvorada Palace, the presidential residence, in which he discusses the Master case. The injunction granted a complaint filed by Senator Flavio Bolsonaro of the PL party, Lula's rival in this year's presidential race. According to G1, the video was still online on the president's YouTube and Instagram accounts as of 8:45 a.m. on Wednesday (Sept. 23).
In the one-minute-twenty-second video, recorded and posted on Sept. 3 on accounts registered with electoral authorities as official campaign channels, Lula calls for a code of ethics for the judiciary and criticizes what he describes as selective leaks in the Master case, a set of investigations centered on Banco Master. The claims about the case are the president's own; no one under investigation has been convicted.
"The Banco Master scandal is the biggest robbery in the history of Brazil. Millions of people in many states and municipalities were robbed. The banker who led the scheme has ties to many powerful people. It was under my government that he was arrested and his bank shut down. There are suspicions that politicians and public officials are involved. Our democracy cannot be held hostage to selective leaks," Lula said in the video.
What the ruling says
In his complaint, Flavio Bolsonaro accuses the ticket of Lula and Vice President Geraldo Alckmin (PSB) of a banned practice known as conduta vedada, under Article 73 of Brazil's election law, which forbids the use of public property to benefit a candidacy. A TSE resolution allows sitting presidents to record campaign content in one room of the official residence, as long as the setting is neutral. Nunes Marques found the condition was not met: the footage shows Lula with the national flag and the presidential standard behind him, symbols the justice described as institutional in character.
"Holding a statement of electoral content in a room of the official residence is not, therefore, prohibited in itself. Its legality depends, however, on the cumulative fulfillment of the conditions set by the provision, among them the use of a neutral environment, free of elements associated with public power or the office held," the justice wrote.
Nunes Marques also barred the video, whole or in parts, from Brazil's free campaign airtime on radio and television, and ordered the platforms to take the material down. According to CNN Brasil, a request that the platforms preserve data on the posts was denied because a technical report already in the case file documents the content.
What comes next
The justice gave the presidency, the Communications Secretariat (Secom) and the Institutional Security Cabinet (GSI) five days to tell the TSE who entered the palace for the recording, who authorized access, which public employees and equipment were used in production, and whether costs were paid by the campaign or by the federal government. The answers will help determine whether public workers and public services were also used, which the same article prohibits.
Lula and Alckmin will have five days to present a defense once they are formally notified. The ruling is a preliminary injunction in a case that is still pending and does not end the inquiry. CNN Brasil said it contacted Lula's campaign and had received no response by publication time.