Without mentioning names, the STF minister criticized the former president’s management for “refusing” to fight Covid and for questioning the ballot boxes
The minister of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) Gilmar Mendes classified the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) as a “populist authoritarianism”” on the night of this Tuesday (Oct 21, 2025). He gave a talkthe 28th International Congress of Constitutional Law of the (Institute of Development and Research). Gilmar is one of the event coordinators and one of the partners of the educational institution.
The minister spoke about recent topics that the STF discussed. Gilmar quoted “attacks on the Electoral Court” in addressing challenges that have arisen since 2018. “We have already held elections using electronic voting machines for many years, without any problems, with immeasurable precision. However, it was invented – and this is part of this menu of populist authoritarianism – that the voting machines were flawed, to discredit the electoral process and try to guarantee a coup d’état, as was later proven”, these.
Bolsonaro questioned the use of electronic voting machines several times during his government. Only in 2021, more than 20 criticisms of the electoral system.
Still this Tuesday, the STF the 7 defendants at the core of “disinformation” about electronic voting machines. By majority, the panel again denied the allegations of the Court’s incompetence to judge the case and considered that the accused acted to “delegitimize electoral process” e “pressure heads of the Armed Forces for an institutional rupture”.
The last to vote, the president of the Panel, minister Flávio Dino, stated that fake news led to the depredation of the Supreme Court during the invasion of the headquarters of the Three Powers, on January 8, 2023. “If there were no fake news and misinformation, this result would not have occurred. There is a causal relationship“, he declared. Luiz Fux was the only one to disagree.
Before talking about Electoral Justice, Gilmar Mendes also discussed the time before the pandemic. “We had successive attacks on the Court. The Court became the biggest target of political action, directed by the President of the Republic himself. In the institution and in the persons of its ministers.”
During his term, from 2019 to 2022, Jair Bolsonaro at least 23 times the STF ministers. The main targets were Alexandre de Moraes and Roberto Barroso, who were criticized 13 and 11 times, respectively.
