Lula seeks tit-for-tat annulment of Bolsonaro’s election candidacy

In Brazil's recent presidential election, incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva garnered 45% of the vote, trailing his right-wing rival Flavio Bolsonaro by a slim margin of 2%. Lula's campaign filed a petition with Brazil's highest electoral court on Wednesday, requesting the disqualification of Bolsonaro as a candidate in the runoff election scheduled for Sunday.

This request follows Bolsonaro's request for Lula's disqualification made just the day prior. The petition cites alleged election interference by Meta, the tech company behind social media platforms Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, which allegedly targeted Lula's campaign negatively. Lula's legal team claims that Bolsonaro abused his economic influence and improperly utilized social media during the campaign.

However, Meta disputes these allegations, explaining that some of Lula's campaign advertisements were deactivated unintentionally due to technical issues. Bolsonaro's legal team countered Lula's claim by accusing the leftist leader of abusing his power through the widespread distribution of government messaging on WhatsApp throughout the election campaign period, as per the court filing.