BRAZIL’S Congress has voted to override a presidential veto and adopt a Bill to reduce former President Jair Bolsonaro’s 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup, a blow to current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The legislation, which will be challenged in court, indicates a weakening of Lula’s position in Congress ahead of his bid for re-election in October.

It’s unclear how much time Mr Bolsonaro will serve for his conviction for leading a coup attempt, but analysts say the move could shave 20 years off his sentence. The former far-right president, who began his sentence in November, is currently under house arrest.

The far-right opposition successfully drew in conservative and centre-right senators and federal deputies to override Lula’s veto of last year’s sentencing Bill.

Mr Bolsonaro’s allies in Congress said that the move benefits not only the former president, but also supporters who were sentenced for destroying government buildings in capital Brasilia on January 8, 2023, in a riot that echoed the assault on the US Capitol Hill two years earlier.

The vote hands Lula another setback in Congress months before his bid for a fourth non-consecutive term.

On Wednesday, he had his nominee to a seat in the Supreme Court rejected by the country’s Senate, a first in 132 years.

“They want to release Bolsonaro, his jailed generals and stop federal police investigations that implicate them,” said Lindberg Farias, a member of Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies and a Lula ally. “This is a day of infamy.”