TRE-SP orders candidate to stop using Bolsonaro’s image in campaign material

A São Paulo electoral judge has ordered state deputy candidate Lucas Bove to stop using Jair Bolsonaro’s image in campaign material, in a ruling that Bove says he will appeal.

The decision by Ronnie Herbert Barros Soares of the São Paulo Regional Electoral Court partially upheld a complaint filed by fellow state deputy candidate Duda Hidalgo of the Workers’ Party. It concerns wind banners placed around Ribeirão Preto showing Bolsonaro prominently beside Bove’s photograph. Bove had already removed the cited banners before the case was judged, but the ruling bars him from reusing the same content in new material and allows for a fine.

The judge followed an opinion from the São Paulo regional electoral prosecutor’s office. The ruling said Bolsonaro’s suspension of political rights, by itself, would not prevent third parties from using his image in electoral advertising. The decisive issue, it said, was a specific order from Brazil’s Supreme Court in criminal case 2,668, which prohibits the former president from publicising political or electoral statements through any means, including through third parties.

According to the ruling, Bolsonaro’s image next to Bove’s in official campaign material conveyed a message of political support to voters. That amounted to the disclosure prohibited by the Supreme Court, even without evidence that Bolsonaro took part in producing the material. Bove argued that using a political leader’s image expressed his own political identity and did not mean the person pictured had personally participated. The judge rejected that argument, saying the case concerned the scope of a specific court order, not an abstract ban on using Bolsonaro’s image.

Bove said he received the decision with sadness, arguing that Bolsonaro had become more than a person and was now “a living idea.” The judge rejected a separate part of the complaint concerning how the banners were installed. Because the ruling was issued by a single judge, an appeal is available within 24 hours.

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We received the news with sadness, since Bolsonaro ceased to be merely a person and became a living idea. We will appeal the decision and, if it is ultimately upheld, we will comply.