Justice Estela Aranha of Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) reinstated on Wednesday a ban on the use of former president Jair Bolsonaro's image in the campaign of Lucas Bove, a candidate for the São Paulo state legislature from Bolsonaro's PL party. The injunction suspends a ruling by the São Paulo Regional Electoral Court (TRE-SP) that had allowed the material, and it holds until the TSE rules on the merits of the case.
The dispute began with a complaint filed by Duda Hidalgo, a Workers' Party candidate for the same state legislature, according to the news site g1. It challenged the distribution of about 50,000 campaign leaflets, known in Brazil as santinhos, and wind banners in the city of Ribeirão Preto showing Bove alongside a photo of the former president.
According to g1, Bolsonaro is serving a sentence after the Supreme Federal Court (STF) convicted him in criminal case 2.668, linked to the alleged coup plot, and his political rights were suspended over the January 8, 2023 attacks. CNN Brasil reports that an order by Justice Alexandre de Moraes bars him from political campaign statements until the end of the 2026 elections, including through third parties. Aranha wrote that the STF restrictions cover such statements "including by third parties, regardless of the means used".
"It is plausible that the use, in campaign material, of Jair Messias Bolsonaro's image in a prominent position next to the photograph, name and ballot number of the respondent signals to voters an endorsement of his candidacy, in circumvention of that STF ruling", Aranha wrote.
Back and forth in electoral court
On September 1, electoral judge Ronnie Hebert Barros Soares banned the use of the photo and set fines of 2,000 to 8,000 reais for violations. On September 11, the TRE-SP reversed that sentence unanimously. The judges accepted the defense argument that the STF ruling had a specific recipient, Bolsonaro himself, and imposed no automatic restrictions on third parties. Bove's lawyers said publishing the image did not amount to personal, voluntary participation by the former president. The Electoral Prosecutor's Office supported pulling the material.
In her injunction, Aranha wrote that the regional court had started from the mistaken premise that the STF restriction applied only to Bolsonaro, ignoring Moraes' reservation about disclosures through third parties. She also cited the risk of delay, given the proximity of the first round of the 2026 elections and the volume of material already in circulation. According to CNN Brasil, the decision does not ban every image of the former president: historical photos of his career are not covered, and the restriction targets material that suggests current support for a specific candidacy.
Bove must now stop distributing the leaflets and wind banners with Bolsonaro's photo until the TSE's full bench judges the appeal. No date has been set.