Lula coalition asks court to recognize WhatsApp channel as independent from campaign — The Rio Times
The coalition of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on October 16 appealed to the country’s Superior Electoral Court, asking it to recognize the WhatsApp channel Exército do Lula, or “Lula’s Army,” as unrelated to the president’s official election campaign. The channel has more than 4 million subscribers and is run by federal deputy André Janones from Minas Gerais state, The Rio Times reports.
Coalition’s arguments
The application was filed by the Brasil Pronto pra Mais coalition, which includes the Workers’ Party, the PCdoB and PV federation, as well as the PSB, PDT and PSOL-Rede parties. According to the coalition, the channel is Janones’ personal initiative and expresses his spontaneous support for Lula.
Coalition representatives stated that the channel is not an official campaign structure and that the campaign headquarters does not control its content. According to them, the channel receives no funds, goods, services, or personnel from the campaign, parties, or coalition, and there is no link to it in the official election campaign profiles.
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Dispute over the channel
The campaign headquarters of Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, Lula’s opponent in the second round, asked the court to block the channel, alleging that it disseminated disinformation. The president of the Superior Electoral Court, Cássio Nunes Marques, suspended the channel’s operation on October 11. Later, the general inspector of electoral justice, Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva, overturned that decision; however, on October 13, Nunes Marques again suspended the channel and demanded that it be officially registered.
On the day the application was filed, the court also approved new provisions to Resolution No. 23,610 of 2019 concerning the criteria for linking messaging channels to election campaigns. The source cites campaign funding, distribution of materials shared with the campaign, and official links to the channel among the criteria.
The Brazilian Association of Lawyers for Democracy stated that it intends to ask the court to declare Nunes Marques biased in this case. The organization believes the issue fell within the jurisdiction of the general inspector of electoral justice. The court has not yet said whether it has accepted the coalition’s application for consideration.
