Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro seeks second term in office

Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro, of the Liberal Party (PL, right), will seek reelection in the second round of elections to be held tomorrow, Sunday, in which he will face former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, of the Workers’ Party (PT, left).

In the first round, held on Oct. 2, Bolsonaro obtained 51 million votes, 43.2 percent of the valid votes, to 57.2 million votes for the opposition leader, who received 48.3 percent.

During the campaign for the second round, the president insisted on the customs agenda and highlighted the recovery of the economy, which should grow 2.76 percent this year, according to financial market analysts’ forecasts.

Aged 67, Bolsonaro is the main conservative leader in South America, amid a rise to power of leftist forces in the regional arena.

Born in Glicério, in the interior of the state of São Paulo (southeast), Bolsonaro enlisted in the Army and attended the officer training academy. He became a captain, but left the military career in 1987.

His parliamentary life began in 1989, as a councilman in Rio de Janeiro. Popular with the military and police, he was elected federal deputy the following year and took office in 1991.

In his congressional career he went through eight different parties, reaching the presidency in 2018 as a member of the Social Liberal Party (PSL), which he also left the following year.

His current candidacy is for the Liberal Party (PL), which he joined in 2021.

The former military man united the defense of conservative and religious values with an orthodox liberal economic agenda, allying himself with his finance minister for the last four years, the financier Paulo Guedes.

During his administration, the reform of Social Security, the regulatory frameworks of several economic sectors and the autonomy of the Central Bank were approved, in addition to the privatization of the energy company Eletrobras.

The President has his support base in the evangelical community, among the military and the security forces, a traditionally conservative middle class sector, and an alliance that brings together the so-called “centrão” of Brazilian politics, with a strong parliamentary presence.

In these elections, his running mate is General Walter Braga Netto, who served as Chief of Staff during the most intense period of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil.

The President announced that, in case he is re-elected, the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, an orthodox liberal trained in the so-called Chicago School, will continue to head the economic team.

In the last TV debate, held on Friday night, Bolsonaro said that in these elections “more than electing a president of the Republic, it is to choose the future of our nation, whether we will live in freedom or not, whether the Brazilian family will be respected”.