Bolsonaro moves to quell despotism fears
BOLSONARO MOVES TO QUELL DESPOTISM FEARS AFTER RIDING ANTI-GRAFT RAGE TO HIGH OFFICE
Brazil on Sunday became the latest country to drift towards the far right, electing a strident populist as president in the nation’s most radical political change since democracy was restored more than 30 years ago.
The new president, Jair Bolsonaro, has exalted the country’s military dictatorship, advocated torture and threatened to destroy, jail or drive into exile his political opponents.
He won by tapping into a deep well of resentment at the status quo in Brazil and by presenting himself as the alternative.
“We have everything we need to become a great nation,” Bolsonaro said on Sunday night, shortly after the race was called, in a video broadcast on his Facebook account.
“Together we will change the destiny of Brazil.”
He appeared eager to dispel concerns that he would govern despotically, saying his government would be a “defender of the constitution, democracy and liberty”.
Bolsonaro, 63, is farther to the right than any president in the region, where voters have recently embraced more conservative leaders in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru.
He joins a number of far-right politicians who have risen to power around the world, including Italy’s deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini and Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary.
“This is a really radical shift,” said Scott Mainwaring, a professor at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government who specialises in Brazil
With 99.2 per cent of votes counted, Bolsonaro was ahead with 55.2 per cent, guaranteeing him a win over Fernando Haddad of the leftist Workers’ Party, who had 44.8 per cent.
Hundreds of supporters gathered outside Bolsonaro’s seaside home in Rio de Janeiro, hugging each other when the results were announced.
As golden fireworks lit up the sky, they chanted “mito,” or legend, paying homage to their president-elect.
Bolsonaro’s victory caps a bitter contest that divided families, tore friendships apart and ignited concerns about the resilience of Brazil’s young democracy.
Many Brazilians see authoritarian tendencies in Bolsonaro, who plans to appoint military leaders to top posts and said he would not accept the result if he were to lose.
He has threatened to stack the Supreme Court by increasing the number of judges to 21 from 11 and to deal with political foes by giving them the choice of extermination or exile.
Trump’s congratulations
Bolsonaro said that President Donald Trump called to congratulate him, calling it “obviously a very friendly contact”.
Part of the reason for his victory was the collapse of the left.
Many cried foul after former President Luiz Inacio da Silva, the longtime front-runner in the race, was ruled ineligible to run after he was imprisoned in April to start serving a 12-year sentence for corruption and money laundering.