Brazil Runoff Is Pulled Into Courts as Lula Seeks to Void Flávio Bolsonaro Ticket

Overview

• The Lula campaign filed an Ação de Investigação Judicial Eleitoral at the TSE on Wednesday seeking cassation of Flávio Bolsonaro’s ticket and eight years of ineligibility for key allies, alleging abuse of economic power and unequal treatment by Meta and X.
• TSE president Kassio Nunes Marques ordered the suspension of 20 social‑media posts tied to Flávio and allied deputies after the campaign accused those accounts of using deepfakes and synthetic networks to boost reach.
• The petition to the TSE asks for preservation of platform records, rapid technical explanations from Meta and X, fines for unequal treatment and provisional steps to restore alleged lost reach before the Oct. 25 runoff.
• Rights and voter‑access groups and public bodies have moved to the high courts: the DPU asked the STF to compel free transport for vulnerable voters, TRE‑AM rejected a Univaja river‑transport request for Vale do Javari, and the MPT opened an inquiry into alleged workplace coercion in Cuiabá.
• Broader institutional stakes are rising as jurists published a manifesto defending constitutional checks, the TSE logged a record 800+ electoral actions this cycle, and reports say a STF revisão criminal of Jair Bolsonaro could be placed on the plenary agenda after the second round.