Brazil court OK's making fun of presidential candidates
The 11 Supreme Court justices unanimously voted to lift the ban definitively.
BRASÍLIA (AFP) - Brazil’s Supreme Court on Thursday scrapped a law that sought to ban making fun of presidential candidates ahead of October elections.
The law had already been suspended by injunction, but the 11 Supreme Court justices unanimously voted to lift the ban definitively.
Under the 2009 measure, satirizing or mocking candidates would be illegal on television or radio for a three-month period ahead of polls. The law was suspended a year later.
"People who don’t want be caricatured stay home -- they don’t put themselves forward for political office," Justice Alexandre de Moraes said during Thursday’s ruling, calling the law "totally unconstitutional."
Brazil’s political class is deeply unpopular following a torrid period of recession and massive corruption scandals in Latin America’s biggest country.
During Brazil’s military dictatorship between 1964 and 1985, newspapers, which have a tradition of satirical cartoons, were severely controlled.
