João Carlos Souto (@soutojc) is Professor of Constitutional Law at the Centro Universitário UDF and the President of the United States-Brazil Comparative Law Institute. He files this special dispatch for JURIST from Brasilia.

Brazil today witnessed the most serious attack on State institutions since re-democratization in 1985. Extreme right-wing terrorists invaded and partially destroyed the seats of the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary in Brasilia, the federal capital.

In common with the invasion of the Capitol in the United States on January 6, 2021, the 8th of January in Brazil reflects the use of social networks as an instrument of disinformation and attacks on Democracy and the powers of the Government. Over four years, which corresponds to the mandate of the Brazilian president who left a week ago, what was seen was a constant and growing campaign to spread fake news to make people believe that the elections could be rigged and that the system was unreliable.

To make it very clear, the Brazilian electoral system and the electronic ballot box is absolutely and demonstrably safe. It is the same electronic voting system that processed the votes that elected the right-wing president in 2018 and the governors and deputies of the right in 2022. Unfortunately, the president who lost the elections in 2022 refuses to admit that he lost and even before the result (just like Donald Trump) cast doubt on the election he already knew he would lose.

What happened today, January 8th, is the bitter fruit of a slow process that has taken hold in Brazilian society over these four years.

The Federal Supreme Court, the most important Court of Justice in the country, has been fundamental to the defense of Democracy in Brazil. Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes has been tireless in defending Democracy. However, he, and the Court, cannot solve everything alone.

US President Biden and French President Macron, among others, have already made it clear that they support the outcome of the elections in Brazil and the president-elect Luis Inácio Lula da Silva. This is very good, but we all need to be aware of the next steps of the keyboard terrorists.

Brazilian Democracy needs the support of democratic countries such as the United States and the European Union, as well as Mercosur.

What we saw today was a terrorist attack by those defeated in the 2022 elections. It is a noisy, dangerous minority that will certainly be repressed by those who defend Democracy and the democratic rule of law, that is to say, the majority of the Brazilian people.