The international press echoes the loss of Eduardo Bolsonaro’s mandate

The decision of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Deputies to declare the loss of the mandate of the then federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP), this Thursday (12/18), had wide repercussions in the international press.

Exiled in the United States since February, the son “03” of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) exceeded the constitutional limit of absences from the plenary session of the House, accumulating 59 unjustified absences from deliberative sessions. Federal deputy Alexandre Ramagem (PL-RJ), former director of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin), also lost his mandate by the same decision.

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Foreign media highlighted that Eduardo’s dismissal took place less than a month after Bolsonaro began serving a 27-year, 3-month sentence at the Federal Police Superintendency, in Brasilia (DF), for involvement in the coup attempt.

The American newspaper ABC News said the former president’s son “claims he is politically persecuted in his country and has pressured members of the Trump administration to help his father reverse his conviction.” The media outlet called the loss of office “a new blow against far-right leader” Jair Bolsonaro.

The vehicle also reported the indictment of Alexandre Ramagem, convicted in the same process as the coup plot and considered a fugitive after moving with his family to the United States.

Press agencies EFEfrom Spain, and AFPof France, stressed that the loss of his mandate was due to excessive absences, while Eduardo worked in this North American country in search of international support for the defense of his father.

THE AFP noted that “family lobbying efforts had some effect – at least initially,” citing the imposition of tariffs on Brazilian products and the inclusion of Minister of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) Alexandre de Moraes on the Magnitsky Act sanctions list. Fares have been largely suspended and Moraes has been spared the financial crisis this month, according to the agency.

The Argentinian newspaper The Nation He also pointed out that Eduardo’s absences occurred after he moved to the United States, where he was seeking political support for Bolsonaro from US President Donald Trump.

“(…) he has not come to the Parliament of Brasilia since February, when he moved to the United States to work as a lobbyist on behalf of his father, currently in prison for attempted coup,” the newspaper writes.

The German channel DW reported that “Eduardo Bolsonaro has not gone to work since February to lobby the United States for his father’s freedom” and highlighted the parliamentarian’s reaction after the impeachment.

The American agency Bloomberg believed that amid Eduardo’s loss of office and Jair Bolsonaro’s conviction, President Trump’s interest in the family has diminished. “Trump’s interest in Bolsonaro’s situation appears to have waned and he is now discussing cooperation in areas other than trade with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva,” he wrote.

Eduardo’s loss of mandate

The loss of the mandates of Eduardo Bolsonaro and Alexandre Ramagem was decided by the Board of Directors of the Chamber, through administrative acts signed by the President of the Chamber, Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB), and other members of the leadership.

The decision was not voted on in plenary and was published in an additional edition of the Diário da Câmara.

The Council relied on article 55 of the Constitution, which provides for the automatic loss of the parliamentary mandate when the deputy does not attend a third of the deliberative sessions. The law specifies that Eduardo lost his position “for not having attended, during the current legislative session, a third of the deliberative sessions of the Chamber of Deputies”.

The parliamentarian has been abroad for months and is under investigation by the STF for trying to coerce the judiciary and for having imposed sanctions in the United States against Brazilian authorities, including ministers of the Court.