BRASILIA, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) on Monday ruled that the Workers' Party (PT) must suspend campaign programming that presents ex-President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as the party's presidential candidate.
A fine of 500,000 Brazilian reais (around 121,000 U.S. dollars) will be levied for every breach of the ruling, said Judge Luis Felipe Salomon.
The judge accepted the argument of the opposition party, the New Party, that the PT was in violation of the TSE ruling that it must stop presenting Lula as a candidate after he was barred from running for a third term.
Last week, the majority of TSE judges rejected Lula's candidacy for October's presidential election, citing the so-called "Clean Record Law," which bans anyone with a criminal record from seeking public office.
The former president is currently serving a 12-year sentence for corruption and money laundering.
But on Saturday, a PT radio broadcast included the phrase, "Yes, Lula is the presidential candidate."
The judge said that the content of the PT's campaign broadcast "left no margin of doubt" that it contravened the court's ruling.
The TSE said that the PT could continue to make campaign broadcasts but could not state Lula is a candidate.
