100 Days of Bolsonaro Administration: Campaign Promises

By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – As President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration marks its 100 days in office, analysts take a look at promises made during the 2018 Presidential campaign.

In the first 100 days, the Bolsonaro administration made good on twelve of its 58 promises, performing better than the administrations of Michel Temer (three of twenty promises) and Dilma Rousseff (five of fifty-five promises).

“The government of the world’s fifth largest country in just under 100 days has done everything and will do much more to make the population feel it is being served. This is the line of our efforts,” said Bolsonaro on his social media account.

Of the twelve promises, five are in the economic realm. His promises of not raising taxes and not reintroducing the tax over financial transactions (CPMF) were fulfilled during his first three months in office.

The promise of reducing import taxes was met by the reduction of machinery and equipment for the chemical sector, and the government did allow Petrobras to maintain its price practicing policy based on international market fluctuations.

One of the most positive results came from Bolsonaro’s promise to turn over a number of infrastructure projects at a standstill due to a lack of public funds or inefficient management to the private sector.

In these first 100 days, the government granted twenty-three private infrastructure projects – including airports, ports, and highways – to the private sector, a decision which should generate R$6.7 billion in investments during the next 30 years.

“Our focus is logistics; to bring investments, reduce the ‘Cost Brazil’,” said Infrastructure Minister Tarcisio Gomes de Freitas after the latest auction to pass several port terminals over to the private sector.

Other promises kept included the reduction in the number of ministries – it went from twenty-nine to twenty-two – and the reduction of the number of public servants. A decree signed in March determined the dismissal of over twenty-one thousand public employees, third-party employees, and fixed contract employees from public entities.

One of the most controversial promises made during the campaign was the easing of gun control laws. In January, just shy of completing a month in office, Bolsonaro sent to Congress a bill that would flex restrictions on the acquisition of firearms by the population.

Two other promises already causing heated debates within the Brazilian Congress are Justice Minister Sergio Moro’s anti-crime bill and the Economy Minister Paulo Guedes’ social security reform bill.

As President Bolsonaro reaches his 100th day in office, several other promises made during the 2018 campaign are well underway to be completed, added government officials.

So despite the heavy criticism received from opposition parties and NGO groups on his stance on issues like human rights and the 1964-1985 military ruled era in Brazil, many analysts this week admit that Bolsonaro has indeed made good on many more campaign promises than his predecessors.

Promises not yet fulfilled

Bolsonaro, however, has not fulfilled several of his promises, among them to end re-election for president, reduce the number of representatives in Congress, reduce debt volume by twenty percentage.

The President also has not been able to implement a military college in every state capital of the country, to reduce environmental licensing authorization time and to transfer embassy from Brazil to Israel to Jerusalem.