Brazil court orders Lula to remove explicit vote requests from convention videos

Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) has ordered President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Bahia Governor Jerônimo Rodrigues, and the Workers' Party (PT) to remove explicit vote requests from videos posted on YouTube. The decision, issued by Minister André Mendonça, addresses a complaint filed by the Novo party, which accused the PT of illegal early campaigning during their state convention in Bahia on August 1st.

The Novo party cited specific instances where Lula allegedly asked for votes for himself and other party candidates during his speech. One quote highlighted in the complaint stated, "When you are fighting and asking for votes for yourselves, for God's sake, after talking about Jerônimo, after talking about Wagner, your deputies, remember that there is Lula in São Paulo waiting for a vote from you to be able to become president of the Republic." Lula also reportedly asked for votes for Rui Costa and Jaques Wagner, who are running for the Federal Senate.

Minister Mendonça rejected the argument that these statements were protected as intra-party communications. He affirmed that while conventions and candidate presentations are permitted, explicit vote requests are not an exception under electoral law. Citing a previous TSE precedent, Mendonça noted that expressions "semantically equivalent" to a direct request for votes are considered early campaigning, even without the literal use of verbs like "vote" or "elect."

The ruling mandates that Lula, Rodrigues, and the PT must edit or remove the videos from their YouTube channels within 24 hours. If partial editing is technically unfeasible, the videos must be removed entirely. The platform has also been notified to comply. However, Mendonça denied the Novo party's broader request to remove all content reproducing these statements, deeming it disproportionate and overly general.

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Têm tanta confiança e me elegeram três vezes presidente da República. E eu estou pedindo para vocês não se cansarem de votar. Me elejam pela quarta vez para a gente poder fazer esse país definitivamente dar certo