In the penultimate week of his election campaign, right-wing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro led rallies in two cities of Minas Gerais, a key district, to counter Lula’s votes. In doing so, he again threatened the Supreme Court in view of his impending defeat.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro greets supporters during his campaign rally in Divinopolis, Minas Gerais state, Brazil, September 23, 2022.
(dpa)
Around a week before the presidential election in Brazil, the right-wing incumbent Jair Bolsonaro has intensified his tone in the face of an impending defeat and openly threatened the country’s Supreme Court. “You know that every day your freedom is threatened more and more by another state authority that is not the executive,” Bolsonaro said at an election rally in Divinopolis on Friday (local time), alluding to the Supreme Court, as the Brazilian newspaper ” Folha de S. Paulo» reported. “And we know that we must put an end to this abuse.”
Bolsonaro has repeatedly threatened the Supreme Court and other democratic institutions because the court had made decisions against its supporters and was also investigating Bolsonaro, for example, because of fake news. Bolsonaro’s opponent, former Brazilian head of state and left-wing favorite Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, had slightly increased his lead in the polls. The percentage of votes Lula can hope for in the first round of voting on Oct. 2 rose to 47 percent from 45 percent the previous week, according to a poll by polling firm Datafolha on Thursday. Bolsonaro would therefore continue to receive around 33 percent of the votes.
Similar to former American President Donald Trump, “Tropical Trump” Bolsonaro is casting doubt on the electoral system and has already announced that he may not recognize a defeat. The mood in the largest country in Latin America is heated. In the past few months, at least two Lula supporters have been killed by suspected Bolsonaro fans.