Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro
BRASILIA, Aug 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) –: Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro suffered a major defeat in Congress when lawmakers did not adopt his proposal to require printed receipts from some electronic ballot boxes.
Bolsonaro has insisted printed receipts are needed to avoid fraud, without providing any evidence that Brazil’s electronic voting system is prone to cheating.
His allies needed 308 votes to pass the proposed constitutional change, but got only 229 on Tuesday (Aug 10) night.
The opposition, however, also fell short of its goal of rebuffing the president with an overwhelming majority, but got only 218 votes.
Earlier in the day, dozens of military vehicles and hundreds of soldiers paraded past the presidential palace as Bolsonaro looked on, then continued past the congressional building and Defense Ministry. The military vehicles left the city at night.
The navy issued a statement saying the convoy had been planned long before the congressional vote. But it was announced only on Monday and critics said it looked like an attempt to intimidate opponents of a president who has often praised the country’s past military dictatorship.
Military parades in the capital are usually limited to independence day events. Tuesday’s procession was described as a ceremonial invitation for Bolsonaro to attend annual navy exercises that are held in a town outside the capital.
The measure voted on Tuesday was a watered-down version of an initial proposal to adopt printouts at all of the nation’s voting ballot boxes. That measure was rejected last week by a congressional committee.
Electoral authorities and even many of Bolsonaro’s political allies opposed the proposal, saying it would attack a nonexistent problem and could create opportunities for vote buying.
The call for a vote appeared to be a bid by lower house Speaker Arthur Lira, a Bolsonaro ally, to settle the dispute for good and ease tensions.
On Monday, Lira called the military exercise taking place the same day as the vote a “tragic coincidence”.
“We hope that this subject is finally ended in the lower house,” Lira said after the vote. — NNN-AGENCIES
