By Ricardo Brito and Gabriel Araujo
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Former&nbsp;Brazilian President Jair&nbsp;Bolsonaro's political career was in tatters on Friday as&nbsp;Brazil's federal electoral court (TSE)&nbsp;barred&nbsp;the far-right nationalist&nbsp;from&nbsp;public&nbsp;office&nbsp;until&nbsp;2030&nbsp;for his conduct during last year's fraught election.
Five out of seven justices voted to convict the 68-year-old&nbsp;Bolsonaro&nbsp;for abuse of power and misuse of the media over his actions in July 2022, ahead of the election, when he summoned ambassadors to vent unfounded claims about&nbsp;Brazil's electronic voting system.
Their decision marks a stunning reversal for&nbsp;Bolsonaro, a fiery populist who narrowly lost the October vote to leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Many in&nbsp;Brazil&nbsp;blame&nbsp;Bolsonaro&nbsp;for creating a nationwide movement to overturn the result, which culminated in the Jan. 8 invasion of government buildings in Brasilia by thousands of his supporters.
The impact&nbsp;from&nbsp;the electoral court's ruling is likely to ripple through&nbsp;Brazilian politics, removing Lula's main foe&nbsp;from&nbsp;contention in 2026 and opening up space among a competitive field on&nbsp;Brazil's right.
The majority opinion in the trial was written by Justice Benedito Goncalves, who said&nbsp;Bolsonaro&nbsp;used the meeting with ambassadors to "spread doubts and incite conspiracy theories." Two conservative-leaning judges dissented.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a longtime&nbsp;Bolsonaro&nbsp;adversary who currently heads the TSE, joined the majority, saying&nbsp;Bolsonaro&nbsp;had spread a "chain of lies and fraudulent news" in his "radical" speech to ambassadors.
Lula's team celebrated the result.
"Some important messages come&nbsp;from&nbsp;the TSE trial: lying is not a legitimate tool for exercising a&nbsp;public&nbsp;function and politics is not governed by the law of the jungle," Justice Minister Flavio Dino tweeted. "Democracy has overcome its toughest stress test in decades."
Bolsonaro&nbsp;has denied wrongdoing, and his lawyers have pledged to make an appeal to the Supreme Court that sources said is unlikely to succeed.
On Friday,&nbsp;Bolsonaro&nbsp;described the decision as a "stab in the back," and said he would keep working to advance right-wing politics in&nbsp;Brazil. However, the TSE decision is not the end of&nbsp;Bolsonaro's troubles. He still faces multiple criminal probes that could yet land him behind bars.
WHITHER&nbsp;BOLSONARO?
While his own hopes of beating Lula in 2026 may be over,&nbsp;Bolsonaro&nbsp;has said he would support his wife, Michelle, as candidate. She is a political novice, but an avowed evangelical Christian who could win support among a religious right that is wary of Lula.
"'Our dream is more alive than ever,'" she wrote on Instagram after the ruling. "I am at your command, my CAPTAIN."
And he could yet make a comeback. Lula was in jail as recently as 2019, when his corruption conviction was overturned. He is now president.
Analysts at Arko Advice said&nbsp;Bolsonaro&nbsp;still enjoys plenty of political cachet.
"There is still no alternative in the right or center-right with the strength of Jair&nbsp;Bolsonaro," they wrote in a note to clients. "As a result, the former president remains President Lula's main antagonist."
A longtime fan of former U.S. President Donald Trump,&nbsp;Bolsonaro's time in&nbsp;office&nbsp;was marked by international criticism over his lackluster stewardship of the Amazon rainforest, his laissez-faire approach to COVID-19 restrictions, and his evidence-free attacks on&nbsp;Brazil's electoral system.
The TSE trial is part of a broader reckoning in&nbsp;Brazil&nbsp;with the fallout&nbsp;from&nbsp;the country's most painful election in a generation. While&nbsp;Bolsonaro&nbsp;faced electoral court scrutiny, many of his one-time allies are being questioned by lawmakers in a congressional probe into the Jan. 8 riots.
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(Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Writing by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Steven Grattan, Chizu Nomiyama and Rosalba O'Brien)

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Bolsonaro barred from holding public office in Brazil until 2030