Brazil's presidential race has entered its final week before the first round with a courtroom battle running on two fronts. The Superior Electoral Court, the TSE, has received at least 450 lawsuits involving presidential contenders, according to a survey by G1, Globo's news portal, published on Monday. The campaign of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers' Party, who is seeking reelection, filed at least 256 suits against rivals, most of them against Senator Flávio Bolsonaro of the PL party, and was itself the target of 198 challenges. The PL campaign filed 93 suits against the PT candidate, equal to 73% of its requests.
Most of the disputes challenge rivals' statements or attacks in videos made with artificial intelligence, campaign ads, jingles and remarks given in interviews. The campaigns describe such material as early or irregular campaigning and negative propaganda, conduct barred by Brazil's electoral courts. The caseload sits with a few justices: court vice president André Mendonça reports on 92 of the suits, Justice Estela Aranha on 80.
The issues at stake
A central front against Flávio Bolsonaro concerns his alleged ties to banker Daniel Vorcaro, arrested in the Compliance investigation and former owner of Banco Master. Suits filed by Lula questioned money the senator received from Vorcaro, which Flávio says was an investment in "Dark Horse", a film about Jair Bolsonaro's trajectory, as well as links to jailed politicians and militia members. In the other direction, the president faces at least 14 challenges over the use of the government machine, including public funds for self-promotion, favorable treatment in the Acadêmicos de Niterói samba school parade and images of official events used for electoral purposes.
TSE rulings and requests at the Supreme Court
The TSE ordered the removal of videos and images linking Flávio Bolsonaro to the Federal Police operation "Unha e Carne" and rejected a fine against him for playing an AI-generated video of Jair Bolsonaro at the PL convention. The court also upheld a Lula ad that used Jair Bolsonaro's statements and ordered the deletion of a Flávio video tying the president to criminal gangs. In that case, the full bench voted 5 to 2 in August and reversed the position of the rapporteur, Justice Nunes Marques. According to Congresso em Foco, the senator and the platform X had 24 hours to remove the post, in which Flávio said Lula had traveled to the United States as "defensor do PCC e do Comando Vermelho" (defender of the PCC and the Comando Vermelho gangs). The majority barred republication of equivalent content attributing a personal link between the president and the gangs without "minimal factual grounds", under penalty of a fine.
At the Supreme Federal Court, the STF, the main case requests an investigation into alleged foreign interference in the election. The Workers' Party filed the request, now before Justice Flávio Dino. The party cites suspicions involving the Rockbridge Network, a United States organization that funds conservative campaigns, and paid advertising abroad on X profiles. The Missão party of presidential candidate Renan Santos took the issue to the TSE and separately challenges at the STF a rule requiring online platforms to restrict algorithms tied to electoral advertising. Flávio Bolsonaro asked the court to investigate Lula over a whisky he allegedly received from Vorcaro.
The first round takes place next Sunday, October 4, with a runoff scheduled for October 25 if needed. The suits over abuse of political and economic power and over fake-profile networks move slowly through the TSE and, according to G1, are expected to reach a decision only after the vote.