Brazil’s Defence Ministry Releases Report On Flaws In Electoral Systems, Confirms No Evidence Of Election Fraud Exists

A report submitted by the Brazilian Defense Ministry on Wednesday shows no evidence of election fraud in the recent Presidential elections, upholding the results and pushing away hopes from supporters of Jair Bolsonaro of alleged election malfeasance.

The 63-page report, submitted by the military to electoral authorities, definitively said that no evidence of fraud was found, and that there appeared to be no tampering done with the electronic ballot boxes used in the election, according to The Guardian.

A senior electoral official said that the committee “received with satisfaction the final report from the Defense Ministry that, in common with all the other monitoring agencies, does not point to any fraud or inconsistency in electronic ballot boxes or in the 2022 electoral process.”

Despite this, the military did weakly suggest a probe into the source code of the voting machines used in the elections, proposing that the code could be tampered with in the future to favor specific candidates if not inspected properly by authorities, CNN reported.

“It is not possible to guarantee that the programs that were executed in the electronic voting machines are free from malicious insertions that alter their intended function,” the Defense Ministry said in the report.

“The suggestions on ways to perfect the system will be analyzed,” Supreme Court Justice Alexandre Moraes, who heads the electoral committee, said.

Many of the extremist supporters of outgoing President Bolsonaro have been pushing for the military to intervene in order to keep him as President, hoping that the military would use this investigation to declare fraud had happened during the elections. Some of them are still reportedly in different military barracks attempting to persuade them to back Bolsonaro.

Lula da Silva, the President-elect of Brazil, meanwhile, has praised the electoral machines used in the elections, which have been the standard of the country since 1996, as he continues to work with his transition team in preparation for his takeover of the government.

“The electronic urns are a triumph for the Brazilian people,” Lula said. “I think many countries around the world are jealous of Brazil for the smoothness of the process here.”