FORMER Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro faces being barred from standing for office for eight years after his country’s electoral court began ruling today on charges linked to his unfounded allegations against the voting system.

The Superior Electoral Tribunal is deciding whether the far-right politician abused his office and misused state media when, in July last year, he told a meeting of foreign diplomats that Brazil's electronic voting machines were subject to large-scale fraud.

Prosecutors argue that the claim violated electoral law, as it took place during campaigning for the October 2022 elections.

Mr Bolsonaro lost the presidential election to his left-wing rival Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva.

Experts says that a conviction is almost certain, taking Mr Bolsonaro out of the next presidential elections, due in 2026.

The former president told journalists on Wednesday: “There was no criticism or attack on the electoral system” at last July’s meeting.

On January 8, his supporters ran riot in the presidential palace, Supreme Court and Congress a week after Lula’s inauguration, claiming that the elections had been rigged and demanding military intervention.

Mr Bolsonaro’s actions have been compared to the attempts by Donald Trump to cling to power after his defeat in the 2020 US presidential election.