Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is appealing his loss in the election from October and requesting that votes cast on the majority of the country’s electronic voting machines be thrown out, alleging a software flaw that, according to outside experts, had no impact on the accuracy of the results.
According to Marcelo de Bessa, the attorney who submitted the 33-page request on behalf of the president and his Liberal Party, such a move would leave Bolsonaro with 51% of the remaining valid ballots – and a reelection victory.
Leftist former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a rival of Bolsonaro, has already been proclaimed the winner by the election commission, and many of the president’s friends have accepted the results.
Particularly in light of Bolsonaro’s refusal to relent, protesters have firmly refused to do the same in places all around the nation.
According to Valdemar Costa, the party’s head, and an auditor appointed by the party, all machines manufactured before 2020—nearly 280,000 of them, or almost 59% of the total number of machines used in the Oct. 30 runoff—lacked unique identifying numbers in internal records.
Both stated that they were requesting the electoral board to annul all votes cast on such machines but neither clarified how it would have altered the outcome of the election.
The problem was described as “irreparable non-compliance owing to malfunction” in the complaint, casting doubt on the veracity of the findings.
The court wouldn’t take the lawsuit under consideration until the party submits a fresh report within 24 hours that takes into account the outcomes of the first electoral round on October 2, in which the Liberal Party gained the most seats in both congressional chambers of any party.
Although the flaw wasn’t previously recognized, experts stated it also had no impact on the outcomes.
Wilson Ruggiero, a professor of computer engineering and digital systems at the Polytechnic School of the University of Sao Paulo, claims that alternative methods, such as the city and voting district, may still be used to quickly identify each voting machine.
Diego Aranha, a systems security associate professor at Denmark’s Aarhus University who has taken part in official security audits of Brazil’s voting system, concurred.
It doesn’t in any way diminish the validity or trustworthiness, “By phone, Ruggiero informed The Associated Press.
“The digital signature linked to each voting machine is the essential factor ensuring accuracy.
Although the machines’ internal logs do not contain unique identification numbers, those numbers do appear on printed receipts that list the total number of votes cast for each candidate, according to Aranha. He added that the bug was only discovered as a result of the electoral commission’s efforts to increase transparency.
The tightest margin since Brazil’s return to democracy in 1985 was Bolsonaro’s defeat to da Silva by fewer than two points on October 30.
The president hasn’t openly accused his opponent of wrongdoing, but he has declined to accept loss or offer congratulations, allowing leeway for his fans to make their own assumptions.
Numerous people have been vehemently protesting, alleging electoral fraud, and calling for the military to step in.
Outside the press conference on Tuesday, dozens of Bolsonaro supporters gathered, dressed in the green and yellow of the Brazilian flag and screaming national anthems.
Some people shoved and insulted journalists as they tried to enter the event.
Without without providing any supporting proof, Bolsonaro claimed for more than a year that Brazil’s electronic voting system is prone to fraud.
Election security experts believe that because electronic voting methods do not leave an auditable paper trail, they are less safe than hand-marked paper ballots, which Brazil started using in 1996.
But both local and foreign specialists have extensively examined Brazil’s system, and they have never discovered any proof that it has been misused to perpetrate fraud.
Since his defeat on October 30, Bolsonaro has spent virtually all of his time alone in the official house, sparking extensive conjecture about whether he is disheartened or attempting to hold onto power.
Vice President Hamilton Mouro attributed Bolsonaro’s absence on erysipelas, a skin illness on his legs that he said prohibits the president from donning trousers, in an interview with daily O Globo.
But federal politician Eduardo Bolsonaro, his son, has been more forthright.
“We’ve always had our doubts about these devices.
The younger Bolsonaro stated last week at a seminar in Mexico City, “We want a huge audit.
“There is extremely compelling evidence to demand an inquiry into the election in Brazil.”
