The following are updates from the Pirate Party of Brazil (Pirate Party of Brazil (Partido Pirata do Brasil, PIRATAS) about their presidential runoff, but first they would like to share information about the case of Ola Bini:
We have received an update from the Aaron Swartz Institute (IASW), the organization that emerged from the former Pirate Party of Brazil, regarding recent developments involving Ola Bini and the Brazilian presidential election.
Ola Bini is a Swedish programmer, security expert, and digital rights activist who has lived and worked in Ecuador. On October 2, he was deported to Sweden.
Ecuadorian authorities detained Bini, revoked his visa, and ordered his immediate deportation without providing an effective opportunity for judicial review or a meaningful right to defense.
According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the deportation was based on a confidential report that characterized Ola Bini as “a threat to national security.”
Crucially, his lawyers were denied access to the report, preventing them from examining or challenging the allegations on which the decision was based. Such circumstances raise serious concerns regarding due process, the right to defense, and the protection of fundamental rights, and are incompatible with the standards expected of a democratic state governed by the rule of law.
IASW condemns violations of civil rights and individual liberties and reiterates its commitment to defending justice, due process, privacy, and fundamental rights.
Regarding Brazil’s presidential election, the first round took place on October 4. Far-right candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, received 47% of the vote, while incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, from the political left, received 45% of valid votes.
The decisive runoff will take place on October 25. The current political landscape is already a cause for serious concern, particularly in light of the rise of extremist political movements across Latin America and the intensification of political polarization in Brazil since 2018.
Jair Bolsonaro was elected president that year in an environment marked by the widespread circulation of political disinformation. During his presidency and subsequent reelection campaign, false claims concerning fraud in Brazil’s electronic voting system and repeated attacks on the legitimacy of the electoral process became central elements of the country’s political debate.
In his attempt to secure reelection, Bolsonaro used social media and institutional channels to cast doubt on the integrity of the electoral system. He was subsequently implicated in a failed attempt to overturn the democratic order, events that ultimately contributed to his imprisonment in 2025.
The present moment is therefore crucial for the defense and strengthening of Brazilian democracy. The consequences of this election extend beyond the presidency itself: the next president will have the opportunity to appoint four justices to Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court. Should Flávio Bolsonaro win the presidency while also benefiting from a supportive majority in the Senate, the balance between Brazil’s democratic institutions could come under significant pressure.
There are also serious concerns regarding the relationship between political power and Big Tech. The largest bloc in Brazil’s National Congress is ultraconservative and has shown strong alignment with the interests of major technology companies. These corporations have increasingly demonstrated that they cannot simply be regarded as neutral actors in political disputes, particularly as prominent technology executives have developed closer relationships with the current U.S. administration.
The Brazilian election is also taking place amid substantial pressure from the United States, including trade tensions resulting from tariffs and allegations of attempts to influence Brazil’s political environment through organizations funded by U.S. interests, an issue that has received renewed attention following the arrest of Fernando Cerimedo.
The Pirate Party of Brazil was ultimately unable to obtain the legal registration required to contest elections and later evolved into the Aaron Swartz Institute. The institutional structure may have changed, but the principles that inspired the Brazilian Pirate movement have not.
We continue to stand for civil liberties, privacy, freedom of expression, an open Internet, democratic institutions, transparency, and resistance to the excessive concentration of power — whether in governments or corporations.
From this perspective, Flávio Bolsonaro represents a political project closely aligned with Big Tech interests and with forces that threaten the open digital space that Pirate Parties around the world have fought to defend.
Our position should therefore not be understood as an endorsement of President Lula’s political program or as an alignment with his party. Lula is not our political ally, and we maintain our independence and our right to criticize his government whenever Pirate principles demand it.
But this election presents a choice between a candidate with whom we have substantial political disagreements and a political project that we believe poses a considerably greater threat to democratic institutions, civil liberties, digital rights, and the open Internet.
For that reason, in the second round of Brazil’s presidential election, we support Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
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The following message was prepared by members of the Pirate Party of Brazil with assistance from members of the PPI board. It does not necessarily reflect the views of all PPI members, but we hope it does. If any of our members have competing ideas about this issue or any other issue that they would like us to broadcast, please share them with us. We are happy to broadcast a variety of ideological opinions and diverse issues. Our goal is to create positive communication to solve problems.