Brazil's Superior Electoral Court has given former President Jair Bolsonaro three days to explain the contents of a draft decree staging a coup d'état, found in the home of a former minister.

The deadline was set in a decision by electoral court judge Benedito Gonçalves on Monday, who ordered the document to be included in an investigation against Bolsonaro for alleged abuse of power during the campaign for the October presidential elections.

The controversial text is a draft decree that would allow Bolsonaro to establish a state of emergency to intervene in the highest electoral court and reverse the result of the October 30 elections, in which he was defeated by Lula da Silva.

The document was found by the Federal Police at the residence of Anderson Torres, who was Bolsonaro's Justice Minister and has been detained since Saturday on charges of alleged omission, as he was responsible for security in Brasilia when thousands of radicals invaded the headquarters of the presidency, Congress and the Supreme Court.

Bolsonaro was also included by the Supreme Court on the list of people under investigation for the violent events of January 8, as the intellectual author and instigator of the attacks by extremists on the three branches of government in Brasilia.

The former president, who is currently in the United States, is suspected of inciting supporters to invade and vandalize the seats of parliament, the presidency and the Supreme Court on January 8.

If Bolsonaro is found responsible for political abuse and using official media in favor of his campaign, the electoral court could sentence him to a period of political disqualification of at least eight years. (Lusa)