Jair Bolsonaro, the former president of Brazil, will stand trial later on Thursday before the Supreme Electoral Court.
Prior to the 2016 presidential election, Mr. Bolsonaro is accused of abusing his position of authority and disseminating erroneous information about Brazil's electoral process.
Even though it is not a criminal matter, judges do have the authority to forbid Mr. Bolsonaro from running for office for a period of eight years.
In addition, he is the subject of numerous ongoing criminal investigations.
A speech made by Mr. Bolsonaro in 2022 while he was still president is at the center of the accusations before the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE).
He falsely claimed that Brazil's electronic voting machines were vulnerable to hacking and large-scale fraud on July 18, when he invited foreign diplomats to his home in the nation's capital, Brasilia.
The speech, according to the prosecution, broke electoral law, but Mr. Bolsonaro insists that he did not criticize or attack the electoral system, only "simply explained how elections work in Brazil.". .
The speech was given in the midst of a divisive presidential campaign in which Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a member of the left, challenged the far-right president for the presidency.
On October 30, the fiercely contested election went to a run-off, which Lula won by a remarkably small margin.
Despite leaving Brazil for Florida two days before Lula was sworn in as president, Mr. Bolsonaro never publicly admitted to losing the election.
On January 8, his supporters stormed Brazil's Congress, the presidential mansion, and the Supreme Court building because they would not accept the election results.
Although some of the buildings had been ransacked, police only apprehended 1,500 of the rioters. A probe into whether Mr. Bolsonaro incited the rioters is currently underway.
The seven judges presiding over the trial at the TSE, however, have only been asked to decide whether the former president used his position of authority to try to sway voters when he disparaged Brazil's electoral process.
On Thursday, when the trial is set to begin, Mr. Bolsonaro is not anticipated to be present in person. Instead, he is scheduled to attend a rally in his political stronghold in the southern part of the nation at the time the court is scheduled to convene.
To make a decision, only a simple majority is required.
In the event that the ex-president loses, the ex-president's attorney has already stated that his client intends to appeal.
