Brazil’s Trump cruises to victory
Jair Bolsonaro has been elected president of Brazil, promising a change in direction for the giant Latin American country.
Former army captain Jair Bolsonaro has been elected president of Brazil, promising a fundamental change in direction for the giant Latin American country, the latest to take a turn to the Right.
Despite repulsing many with his open support of the torture used by Brazil’s former military regime, as well as remarks deemed misogynist, racist and homophobic, Mr Bolsonaro managed to tap voters’ deep anger with corruption, crime and economic malaise.
Official results yesterday gave the president-elect 55.13 per cent of the vote in the run-off election, to 44.87 for leftist opponent Fernando Haddad, with 99.99 per cent of the ballots counted.
Mr Bolsonaro, 63, will take office on January 1.
“We will change Brazil’s destiny together,” he said in his victory speech — broadcast from his home on Facebook, the platform he has used to campaign since an attacker stabbed him in the stomach at a rally on September 6.
Sitting next to his wife Michelle, the longtime congressman pledged to govern “following the Bible and the constitution”. “We cannot continue flirting with socialism, communism, populism and the extremism of the Left.”
Mr Bolsonaro promised to defend “the constitution, democracy and freedom”, fending off opponents’ warnings he would try to veer towards authoritarianism after openly expressing his admiration for Brazil’s brutal military dictatorship (1964-1985).
Thousands of supporters from his Social Liberal Party flooded the streets outside his home in Rio de Janeiro, waving Brazilian flags and lighting up the sky with fireworks.
“All these people here are outraged, upset about corruption and crime, and we are with Bolsonaro. The people have spoken. For the first time I feel represented,” said Andre Luiz Lobo, 38, a businessman who — not incidentally, given the accusations of racism against his candidate — is black.
The White House said US President Donald Trump had called Mr Bolsonaro to congratulate him. Dubbed the “Tropical Trump”, Mr Bolsonaro publicly admires the US leader.
On the other side, the reaction was despair — and a defiant vow to resist. Mr Haddad, a former Sao Paulo mayor, said he would fight to “defend the freedoms of those 45 million people” who voted for him, after Mr Bolsonaro vowed late in the campaign to “cleanse” Brazil of “reds”. Aides said Mr Haddad, 55, had not called Mr Bolsonaro to congratulate him.
“Fascists!” shouted tearful supporters at the headquarters of Mr Haddad’s Workers’ Party (PT) in Sao Paulo. “I’m surprised Brazilians would vote for hate, for guns,” said Flavia Castelhanos, 31, wearing a pin that said “Not him” — the rallying cry against Mr Bolsonaro.
Political analysts and activists reacted in grim tones. “This is a dark day for Brazil. Brazilian democracy is now in complete crisis,” said Mark Weisbrot of the Centre for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. The environmental group Amazon Watch warned victory for Mr Bolsonaro — who has vowed not to let conservation interfere with agriculture — “spells disaster for the Brazilian Amazon”.
In a highly unusual moment, Supreme Court Chief Justice Jose Dias Toffoli read out part of the constitution to reporters after he voted. “The future president must respect institutions, must respect democracy, the rule of law, the judiciary branch, the national Congress and the legislative branch,” he said in remarks many took to be a rebuke of Mr Bolsonaro and his more extreme positions.
Mr Bolsonaro went into Sunday the clear frontrunner after getting 46 per cent of the vote to Mr Haddad’s 29 per cent in the first round of voting on October 7, when 13 contenders were on the ballot. Polls had him leading by as much as 18 percentage points, but the race tightened in the last few days. Several heavyweights came out against him, arguing that he was a direct risk to the world’s fourth-largest democracy.
Mr Bolsonaro has offended many in Brazil and beyond with his vitriolic rhetoric. But an even larger portion of voters rejected Mr Haddad and the tarnished legacy of the PT, which had won the past four presidential elections.
The polls came on the heels of Brazil’s worst-ever recession, a multi-billion-dollar corruption scandal and a year of record-setting violent crime.
Mr Haddad stood as a surrogate for the popular — but jailed — former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who led Brazil through the boom years of 2003 to 2010, before the country went bust. The highly divisive Lula, who stands accused of masterminding the massive pilfering of state oil company Petrobras, was barred from running because he is serving a 12-year sentence for bribery.
Centre-right President Michel Temer, who is set to leave office as the most unpopular leader in Brazil’s modern democracy, congratulated Mr Bolsonaro and said the transition would start now.
AFP, AP
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Reform agenda
The policies and thoughts of Jair Bolsonaro on the future of Brazil