Bolsonaro calls top judge a ‘son of a whore’ amid probe into his voter fraud claims

The comments came amid growing tensions surrounding Mr Bolsonaro’s claims that the nation’s voting system is vulnerable to fraud

Last month, Mr Bolsonaro’s disapproval rating hit an all-time high (REUTERS)

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro insulted the head of the the country’s Supreme Electoral Court during a live broadcast shared on his Facebook page.

He called Luis Roberto Barroso a “son of a whore” while addressing supporters in southern Brazil.

The video has since been deleted from Facebook but copies are still being shared online.

Responding to the comment, the top court justice said that if his actions were causing such a nuisance, it was a sign he was doing his job properly.

The comments came amid growing tensions surrounding Mr Bolsonaro’s claims that the nation’s voting system is vulnerable to fraud.

Since his electoral victory in 2018, the right-wing politician has made allegations over voter fraud in the country, which his critics believe is an attempt to lay the groundwork to challenge upcoming elections results like former US president, Donald Trump did in 2020.

Mr Trump’s claims, which were backed by Mr Bolsonaro, led to his supporters launching an assault on the Capitol building in Washington DC on 6 January.

Mr Bolsonaro recently implied that he would not accept a defeat at the next election if the country’s so-called voter fraud issues weren’t solved.

“I’ll hand over the presidential sash to whoever wins the election cleanly,” he said in a weekly address via social media. “Not with fraud.”

Last month, Mr Bolsonaro’s disapproval rating hit an all-time high, with around 52 percent of respondents to a poll by XP/Ipespe saying they felt that Mr Bolsonaro’s government is doing a “bad/terrible” job.

Earlier this week the Supreme Court approved an investigation into the president’s unfounded accusations about voter fraud.

On Thursday, in Bolsonaro’s worst setback in Congress since taking office in 2019, a lower house committee voted to shelve a constitutional amendment he has been pushing that would have adopted printed ballots.

Speaker Arthur Lira, however, said on Friday he would put the controversial amendment to the plenary despite the committee defeat. He explained the decision saying that a quick resolution was preferable because political tensions over the issue are holding up the country’s legislative agenda.

The proposal is not expected to clear the lower chamber where constitutional amendments need three-fifths of the votes.

Additional reporting by Reuters