Bolsonaro voted as new president
Brazilians enters new era with right wing leader dubbed ‘Tropical Trump’
Brazil entered a new era on Monday after electing its next president, Jair Bolsonaro, a farright congressman who vowed a fundamental change in direction for the giant Latin American country.
Bolsonaro, who openly admires Brazil’s former military dictatorship and shocked many with his derogatory remarks on women, gays and blacks, won 55% of the vote in a run-off election on Sunday – more than 10 points ahead of leftist Fernando Haddad.
Having channelled voters’ anger with corruption, crime and economic malaise, the man dubbed the “Tropical Trump” will now get down to work seeking to “change Brazil’s destiny” – the promise he made in his victory speech.
Markets reacted positively to the victory by the businessworld favourite, who will take office on January 1.
The Sao Paulo stock exchange’s main index was up 1.5% mid-morning, after adding 10% in a month as Bolsonaro opponent surged in the polls. The Brazilian real traded its strongest in six months against the dollar.
After a deeply polarising election, many Brazilians seem eager to turn the page, hoping for the best.
“Maybe now, with this renewal, things will improve in this country,” said Bolsonaro voter Jocemil Clacino, 66, a shopkeeper in Rio de Janeiro.
“Fifty-five percent of the voters believe in this – that it’s a historic moment, that everything’s going to change.
“Let’s hope so,” said Joelson Alves Soares, 72, a retiree who did not vote.
For Bolsonaro’s opponents, however, the bitterness runs deep.
“These elections revealed the worst in humanity.
“People let out everything they had been too afraid to talk about. It made me feel terrible,” said Adriana Calvi, 55.
Bolsonaro, 63, received congratulations from world leaders – though some urged him to “respect democratic principles,” as French President Emmanuel Macron put it.
Opponents have warned Bolfor sonaro could try to veer toward authoritarianism, after the former army captain openly expressed his admiration for Brazil’s brutal military dictatorship (1964-1985) and its torture of leftist dissidents.
The European Union will be expecting Bolsonaro to “work to consolidate democracy,” EU spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud said pointedly.
The polls came on the heels of Brazil’s worst-ever recession, a staggering multibillion-dollar corruption scandal and a year of record-setting violent crime.