BRASILIA: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s campaign requested the disqualification of right-wing rival Flavio Bolsonaro from the presidential race on Wednesday, a day after his opponent did the same.
Lula received 45 percent of the vote compared to Bolsonaro’s 47 percent in the first round earlier this month, and polls show a technical tie ahead of Sunday’s runoff.
Lula’s campaign is seeking to disqualify Bolsonaro over alleged election interference by tech giant Meta aimed at harming the incumbent’s chances of winning.
In a petition filed to Brazil’s top electoral court on Wednesday, Lula’s team requested Bolsonaro’s disqualification, citing his “abuse of economic power and improper use of social networks.”
Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, denies the allegations but previously said that some of Lula’s campaign ads had been mistakenly deactivated due to technical errors.
Bolsonaro’s team requested Lula’s disqualification on Tuesday, accusing the leftist of “abuse of power” in the mass dissemination of government postings on WhatsApp during the campaign, according to the court filing.