BRASILIA—The head of Brazil’s electoral court Alexandre de Moraes on Wednesday rejected a complaint from President Jair Bolsonaro’s allies to challenge the presidential election, which the incumbent lost by a small margin, according to a court document.
Leftist former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva narrowly defeated Bolsonaro in the Oct. 30 runoff election.
Lula’s margin of victory was by less than two percentage points.
Moraes, who serves as a Supreme Court justice, also fined the parties in Bolsonaro’s coalition to the tune of 22.9 million reais ($4.27 million) for what the court described as bad faith litigation, the document showed.
On Tuesday, Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party (PL) filed a complaint to challenge the outcome of the election claiming some of the electronic voting machines were flawed and those votes should be invalidated, an argument that election authorities met with skepticism.
Under the terms of Wednesday’s electoral court decision, political funds for the president’s coalition parties were ordered blocked until the fine is paid. The ruling also ordered an investigation into any misuse of the party’s structure and funds by PL head Valdemar da Costa Neto.
