Last Friday (4th), a live carried out by an Argentine YouTube channel went viral when it released an alleged dossier with false information about the results of the elections in Brazil. Watched by more than 400,000 people, the video with distorted data was widely circulated among allies of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), who was defeated in the election.
In front of the images, the consultant Fernando Cerimedo, responsible for the YouTube channel “La Derecha Diário”. An open supporter of the Bolsonaro family, he says he helped with the president’s campaign in 2018 and met with deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP) shortly before the second round of this year.
According to a report by Estadão Conteúdo, the main argument presented in the live is that five models of electronic voting machines used in this year’s election registered more votes for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) than for President Jair Bolsonaro (PL). These models, the dossier says, would not have undergone a safety test. Only the 2020 urn would have passed the scrutiny of experts from federal universities and the Armed Forces. This information is false because all the models in the urn had already been tested.
According to the Electoral Justice, all models are put to the test before the election — with transparent and auditable tests by authorities and parties (see below the full text of the TSE’s note that refutes Fernando Cerimedo’s arguments in the live).
The reproduction of live —recorded in Argentina, according to Cerimedo— caused Bolsonarista elected deputy Nikolas Ferreira (PL-MG) to have his Twitter and Instagram accounts suspended for disseminating false information.
Argentine bannon. With an office in the trendy region of Puerto Madero, in Buenos Aires, Cerimedo is a strategist and consultant specializing in digital and political marketing and owner of several channels linked to the Argentine right.
Called by local portals as a “Latin American Steve Bannon”, in reference to the former adviser to former US President Donald Trump, he says in interviews that he wants to strengthen the right across the continent.
In a conversation with Argentina’s “Notícias” portal, he says that, in addition to his home country, he has already expanded his business to Brazil and Chile. Next year, he said he intends to enter the United States, collaborating with Trump, who is flirting with a return to the White House in 2024.
In Brazil, according to him, he already collaborated with Bolsonaro’s election in 2018. The consultant defends the use of robots in messaging applications and social networks as a strategy to win the election.
In the 2018 campaign, he [Bolsonaro] I had spoken very badly about gays. How did we go about reversing this? Through WhatsApp, we started sending thousands of messages from trolls saying, ‘I’m gay. Bolsonaro may be a Nazi, but the economy is fine and we are going to live safer. From that influence, part of the gay community supported him.
Fernando Cerimedo, in an interview with “Notícias”
The son’s friend. In the interview, released on October 27, three days before the second round, the consultant does not talk about the 2022 elections, but says that he received Eduardo Bolsonaro, the president’s third son, for a visit in October.
He says he met Eduardo in 2010, during a course in the United States. In mid-October, he said he was the coordinator of the deputy’s trip to the Argentine capital.
According to him, Eduardo had dinner with “several politicians” at his house. “I made the invitation on a personal level and nobody knew who else was going,” he said. The meeting was not recorded on the deputy’s networks, but photos of the two can be found on Twitter and Facebook.
President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) supports channel “La Derecha Diario” in video on YouTube
Image: Playback/YouTube
Mutual support? At live of friday, cerimedo says that he received the documents that would prove a fraud from Brazil, but that there was no relationship with the Bolsonaro family. On social media, he is a staunch supporter of the clan, engaged throughout the electoral process on behalf of the president.
There are no public mentions of Bolsonaro about the consultant, but photos of both the president and Eduardo are also circulating on social media, holding flags with the logo of the channel “La right Diario”, by Cerimedo. In a video recorded at Alvorada and played on the channel, Bolsonaro salutes the vehicle holding the flag.
O UOL He sought the advice of Planalto and deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro to confirm the information and learn more about the relationship between them and the Argentine, but he had no response until the closing. The report also tried to contact Cerimedo, but was unsuccessful.
What does the TSE say?. Read the full court note on the live of Cerimedo.
“It is not true that the previous models of electronic voting machines did not undergo auditing and inspection procedures. The old equipment has been in use since 2010 (for the 2009 and 2010 model polls) and all were used in the 2018 Elections. During this period, these ballot box models have already been subjected to several analyzes and audits, such as the PSDB Special Audit in 2015 and five editions of the Public Security Test (2012, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2021).
The results of all editions of the TPS are available for consultation at the address below: https://www.justicaeleitoral.jus.br/tps/#resultados
The model 2020 electronic voting machines that were not yet ready during the TPS 2021 period were tested by the Laboratory of Architecture and Computer Networks (Larc) of the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (EP-USP), in addition to having the set of software also evaluated by the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) and Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE).
In the three assessments, no weaknesses or even signs of vulnerability were found. The software in use in the old equipment is the same used in the newer equipment (UE2020), whose system has been widely open for auditing inside and outside the TSE since 2021. The report prepared by the institution can be found at the following link:
https://www.tse.jus.br/comunicacao/noticias/2022/Agosto/universidades-validam-nova-urna-e-codigos-fonte-dos-sistemas-eleitorais-357621
Finally, it should be noted that all polls are audited and it is hardware, that is, it is a device. What matters is what runs inside it, that is, the program, which was open for a year to all inspection entities. The ballot box software is unique across all models, having been disclosed, sealed and signed.”
