Brazilian trans lawmaker Duda Salabert demands arrest of Lula opponent Flavio Bolsonaro, seizure of his passport

Duda Salabert was celebrated in 2022 when he was elected to be a congresswoman for his district in Minas Gerais and became one of the first two transgender federal deputies elected to office in Brazil. Now, Salabert is calling for the arrest and prosecution of Flavio Bolsonaro, who lost the presidential election to Lula da Silva after Lula's judicial ally announced, with only three minutes before the end of voting, that polling places that were still open could remain open for two hours but that those which already closed could not reopen.

Bolsonaro called this out, saying that the "rules were changed mid-game," and refused to concede the election. Flavio Bolsonaro led Lula in an earlier round of voting, but on Sunday night, as polls were set to close and Lula worried about his win, polling places were made to stay open an extra two hours under the orders of Lula's Supreme Court justice ally. Those that had already closed were not permitted to reopen and he lost by 4 million votes, a margin of less than four points.

In a post here translated from Portugese, Salabert said, "URGENT: I just requested the seizure of Flávio Bolsonaro's passport. The next step for this criminal is to try to flee Brazil to avoid facing the numerous inquiries against him. He needs to be arrested soon. We cannot allow him to join his brother in the US to plot against national sovereignty!"

The move would not be unprecedented. Favio's father Jair Bolsonaro lost to Lula in 2022, the same year Salabert was elected. Following the loss, Bolsonaro was arrested by Lula's government and imprisoned. He was charged last year in an 844-page indictment with an attempted coup to overturn the 2022 elections. He has denied the charges; now they seek to do the same thing to his son.

Salabert was an activist and teacher before he was elected to city council. He ran on an environmental platform, promising to plant as many trees as votes were cast for him. Ahead of the election, Salabert posted: "I try not to normalize armored cars, bulletproof vests and the simple fact that I can no longer go to the bakery alone. I wonder, for how long? Could it be that there is little left to overcome… or is this just the beginning?"

In his victory speech, Lula claimed there was "outside interference through digital platforms" in the elections and added, "we are going to have to regulate them." He also claimed that after his win, "we no longer have opponents." If Salabert has his way, the opposition will be jailed, just as Lula did to his current opponent's father in 2022.

Bolsonaro has not conceded and issued a statement saying: "What happened today was not normal. Frankly, it was unacceptable. For the first time in history, a Supreme Court justice — Lula's former lawyer — signed a stroke-of-the-pen order at the request of his own former law partner and changed the rules of the game in the middle of the game."

"At 5:01 p.m., Justice Zanin - who doesn't even sit on the Superior Electoral Court - steamrolled the electoral courts and issued a decision extending the voting by two hours. That had never happened before in Brazil's history. Voters in different cities and different states were not treated equally. Equal treatment went completely out the window. I will never know how many more votes I could have gotten in a state where the polls weren't reopened.

"There is no explaining what happened. In fact, in the words of one of the justices - as the press itself reported - given the way things unfolded, the election should have been annulled.

"And what I have to say here, right now, is that it is impossible - impossible - to recognize the election results, given how all of this went down. We are going to put our legal team to work, and we are going to ask for this election to be annulled.

"I will not accept that the rules were changed mid-game — once again - by Lula's friends on the Supreme Court. There is no explanation for this. These things come out of nowhere: Zanin's own former partner asks, and Zanin grants the request - going right over the head of the electoral courts.

"And one more thing - a detail few people here know: our PL poll watchers were removed from the secure vault room the moment that decision was made. So there is a lot that needs to be cleared up before Brazil simply goes ahead and recognizes the dirty trick that was just pulled in this election.

"I am not giving up on my Brazil. And to everyone who has been watching, I hope you won't give up either."