Brazil election: is Jair Bolsonaro preparing to stage a coup?
Opposition candidate now ‘clear favourite’ to win, but Bolsonaro’s behaviour is still cause for alarm
Is Jair Bolsonaro preparing to stage a coup? It’s starting to look that way, said Fernando de Barros e Silva in Folha de São Paulo. Last week, Brazil’s far-right president marked his country’s independence day by staging a huge rally in São Paulo. Addressing 140,000 supporters, he repeated his previous attacks on the integrity of Brazil’s electronic voting system, and lashed out at the Supreme Court, vowing to no longer follow its rulings.
He also launched a bitter verbal assault on one of the court’s justices, who incurred his wrath by authorising several probes into his conduct, including to examine whether he has committed a crime by spreading fake news about the risk of fraud in next year’s presidential elections. But it was his uncompromising language that really set alarm bells ringing. “I will never be jailed,” vowed the 66-year-old former army captain. “Only God will oust me.”
I wouldn’t worry too much about his rantings, said Ricardo Kertzman in Istoé (São Paulo). Sure, they might help rally his predominantly white, older, “well-nourished” base, but the people at his speeches don’t represent most Brazilians, 51% of whom are black or brown, and 25% of whom are aged 15-29. As for rumours that his supporters might storm the Supreme Court in an echo of January’s Capitol Hill riots in Washington – well, that didn’t happen.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Most Brazilians are more preoccupied with the country’s 14% unemployment rate, soaring food prices, and the government’s egregious mishandling of the pandemic than with Bolsonaro’s populist bluster. And his poll ratings are plummeting: just 24% of voters approve of him, the lowest level since he took office in 2019.
The opposition candidate, the left-wing former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is now “clear favourite” to win next year’s vote, said Oliver Stuenkel in Americas Quarterly (New York). Yet Bolsonaro’s behaviour is still cause for alarm. His ability to attract large crowds shows his supporters buy into his claims that he is not to blame for Brazil’s ills. And his “all-or-nothing strategy” (he recently said he has “three alternatives... being arrested, getting killed or winning”) risks plunging the country into a constitutional crisis if he refuses to relinquish power.
Luckily, there’s no sign that Brazil’s generals would back efforts by Bolsonaro to return the country to a military dictatorship of the kind that ruled from 1964 until 1985, said The Economist. But it’s clear he won’t shy away from challenging next year’s results, perhaps by deploying “angry mobs” with “cavalier” attitudes towards democracy.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
6 stylish homes in Portland, Oregon
Feature Featuring a wall of windows in Collins View and a historic ballroom in Portland Heights
By The Week US Published
-
What's next for US interest rates?
The Explainer Stubborn inflation forestalls anticipated rate cuts
By Becca Stanek, The Week US Published
-
Russia rattles nuclear saber, orders tactical nuke drills
Speed Read President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian military to hold nuclear weapons drills in response to Western "threats"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The Don's enablers
Opinion Even Republicans who know better won't get in Trump's way
By William Falk Published
-
Panama presidency won by stand-in for fugitive
Speed Read José Raúl Mulino was the stand-in candidate for disqualified former president Ricardo Martinelli
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Rishi Sunak's asylum spat with Ireland explained
In Depth Irish government plans to override court ruling that the UK is unsafe for asylum seekers
By The Week UK Published
-
Xi comes to Europe: what's on the agenda?
The Explainer China's president visiting for first time since 2019, with spotlight on support for Russia over Ukraine and trade tensions with EU
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Coming to America
Opinion Why the melting pot should be a source of national pride
By Theunis Bates Published
-
Russia gains as Ukraine awaits US aid
Speed Read Ukrainian forces have retreated from several villages as the situation at the front line worsens
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Sudan's year of civil war: 'the world has turned its back'
Talking Point Fractured state has 'essentially collapsed' as conflict between rival militias stretches on
By The Week UK Published
-
Haiti interim council, prime minister sworn in
Speed Read Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigns amid surging gang violence
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published