BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro accused two members of the Supreme Court on Wednesday of taking sides in this year’s election and favoring leftists leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Bolsonaro has railed at justices Luis Roberto Barroso and Alexandre de Moraes for months over rulings against his policies and investigations into the president, including one for spreading fake news over COVID-19.
“Barroso and Alexandre de Moraes want Lula to be president,” he said in a television interview.
“OK, they might not want to vote for me, but do they want to return to office the man who robbed the nation for eight years?” Bolsonaro commented.
Lula was president of Brazil from 2003-2010. He spent a year and a half in jail on corruption charges that were annulled by the Supreme Court last year, allowing him to run again this year. Polls show he has a clear lead over Bolsonaro if the October election were held today.
Barroso last month ruled on requiring vaccination proof from all travelers arriving in Brazil, a measure contrary to the views of vaccine-skeptic Bolsonaro.
De Moraes oversees five investigations of the president, including one into his comments falsely associating vaccines against COVID-19 with causing AIDS.
(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
