BRASILIA: One of seven judges in Jair Bolsonaro's abuse of power trial voted on Tuesday to bar the former Brazilian president from running in the 2026 elections, as South America's largest country held its breath for other judges to deliver their rulings later this week.

The Superior Electoral Tribunal is trying the far-right ex-leader over a televised meeting he held with foreign diplomats in July 2022 — three months before his election defeat to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva — at which Bolsonaro made unproven allegations of security flaws in Brazil's electronic voting system.