Six months before Brazil's presidential election, Parliament overrode Lula's veto of a law paving the way for a reduction in the prison sentence of his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro. The text could also favor people convicted for their participation in the riots of January 8, 2023.
Published on: 04/30/2026 - 11:47 p.m. Modified on: 05/01/2026 - 09:58
On Thursday April 30, the Brazilian Parliament inflicted a second defeat on President Lula in less than 24 hours, by overturning his veto of a law paving the way for a reduction in the prison sentence of his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.
On Wednesday evening, the Senate had already rejected the candidate that Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had nominated to the Supreme Court, which had not happened in decades.
This new setback takes place six months before the election during which the left-wing president, aged 80, must seek an unprecedented fourth term, notably facing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, eldest son of the former far-right head of state (2019-2022).
By 318 votes to 144 among deputies and 49 to 24 in the Senate, parliamentarians validated during a joint session of the two chambers a law which modifies the method of calculating detention time, for the benefit of Jair Bolsonaro and others convicted by the Supreme Court for an attempted coup d'état. Lula censored this text adopted at the end of 2025 in January.
Joy of the conservatives
When the final result was announced on the screens, the conservative parliamentarians, grouped in the center of the hemicycle, began to jump in unison, like football fans, shouting: “Freedom!”
The reduction in sentences provided for by this text could also favor people convicted for their participation in the riots of January 8, 2023, when a crowd of Bolsonarist sympathizers ransacked places of power in Brasilia. According to the Supreme Court, this assault was an integral part of the putschist project.
“We have seen so much injustice, but it seems that now we can feel a little relief,” Diene Vilar, a friend of one of those convicted for the Brasilia riots, told AFP, moved to tears after attending the Parliament vote.
“This is a first step towards total justice for those persecuted on January 8,” exulted Flavio Bolsonaro on the X network, who thanked his peers for this “birthday gift” on his 45th birthday. “The Lula government is over, to the great joy of Brazilians,” declared before the vote this senator who the latest polls put him neck and neck with Lula for the October presidential election.
Call to defend democracy
"For the greatest leader of the right, Jair Bolsonaro, the right votes 'no' (to the veto, Editor's note) and hopes that a general amnesty will come with the election of Flavio Bolsonaro", launched the Bolsonarist deputy Luciano Zucco during a session marked by shouts and insults flying from both camps.
In September, Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison by the Supreme Court, which found him guilty of conspiring to stay in power despite his electoral defeat against Lula in 2022. Under previous rules, the 71-year-old former president, who is currently serving his sentence at home for health reasons, could only benefit from an adjustment to this sentence from 2033. The new law would reduce this period.
Jair Bolsonaro's lawyers will have to file a request for the Supreme Court to recalculate the sentence modification.
“Bolsonaro did not win at the polls and he wanted to win by force, which is why the amnesty and the vote for this law amount to allowing this to happen again,” criticized Gleisi Hoffmann, MP for Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT).
Several left-wing parliamentarians called for the defense of democracy in a country still marked by the years of military dictatorship (1964-1985). “What happened here today is dangerous, the advance of the far right suggests new attacks on democracy in the future,” added Pedro Uczai, leader of the PT in the lower house.
With AFP
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