Brazil invites EU to observe vote as Bolsonaro faces reelection: report

Brazil’s election authority invited the European Union (EU) to supervise its upcoming general elections in October when the country’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, will seek reelection, according to a report.

Following the Supreme Electoral Court’s offer for the EU to observe the process, European Commission Vice President Josep Borrell last month thanked the court for the invitation and said it would require the consideration of the EU’s 27 member states and the European Parliament, according to Reuters.

Sources told the news service that the EU plans to send a mission to the country in May to determine whether it is plausible to be an official observer of the upcoming election. 

The court also is negotiating invitations to observe the election with other groups, including the Organization of American States, the Carter Center, the parliament of South American trade bloc Mercosur and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, Reuters reported.

The court’s invitations come as Bolsonaro once again seeks office after questioning the legitimacy of the country’s electronic voting system.

Following the 2018 race, Bolsonaro asserted baseless claims of fraud, and with the current president’s polling numbers behind his opponent — Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the leftist former president — some people are concerned that Bolsonaro may claim the results of the upcoming October election are fraudulent, Reuters added. 

The president has specifically claimed that the country’s electoral system is vulnerable to electronic tampering and has insisted on the use of paper ballots. 

More recently, Bolsonaro met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in February ahead of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. 

At that time, Bolsonaro said he “told Putin that Brazil supports any country that seeks peace.” 

“And that’s his intention,” he said of Putin. 

Since the invasion began on Feb. 24, thousands of people, including civilians and children, have been killed in Moscow’s attack on the besieged country.