RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said Thursday (26) he “does not even dream” of a “democratic rupture,” but reiterated that society wants “freedom” and “free elections” in 2022 and not to be led by the “dictatorship” of “one or two” judges.
In a live broadcast on his social networks, the conservative head of state reiterated that he plans to participate in demonstrations on September 7, Independence Day, called by his supporters to protest for freedom of speech and against undemocratic intimidation attempts by the Supreme Court.
Read also: “Between bibles and bullets”, Bolsonarist September 7 demonstration could be stronger than ever
Bolsonaro assured that “the people will demand freedom and respect for constitutional provisions.” According to the president, “it will be a large, peaceful and orderly popular movement.”
Bolsonaro reiterated his doubts about the infallibility of the purely electronic voting system and expressed his fear that without anchoring the electronic system in “analog” control mechanisms, such as a printed election receipt, electoral fraud “could happen” in the 2022 presidential elections.
He also kept up his campaign against what he calls undemocratic actions by two federal justices, protesting the “relentless persecution” of dissenting activists who are accused of spreading fake news and promoting attacks on democratic institutions.
The president reiterates that this “spontaneous movement of the people” wants “freedom” and not rupture.
Read also: Bolsonaro says Brazilians are “appalled by the repression of freedoms” by Judiciary
“We are not working toward a rupture, nor do we dream of it, but the people are demanding freedom, transparency, tranquility, their individual rights to come and go, freedom of expression,” because “it cannot be that one or two people dictate the rules in Brazil,” he said, alluding to two Supreme Court Justices, Alexandre de Moraes and Luis Roberto Barroso.
“This is really a dictatorship,” said Bolsonaro, who also warned that if there were violence in the September 7 demonstrations, it would only be due to “infiltrators.”
UNPRECEDENTED SUPPORT OF EVANGELICAL LEADERS
Some of the country’s leading evangelical pastors have joined together in summoning believers to an act of support for the president, which will occupy Avenida Paulista in São Paulo.
They include Estevam Hernandes, creator of the March for Jesus; Samuel Câmara, pioneer of the Mother Church, the first of the Assemblies of God in Brazil founded a century ago in Belém; and Renê Terra Nova, one of the most influential pastoral voices of the North.
“We cannot be silent or cowardly in this decisive moment,” said in a video Assembly of God Victory in Christ leader Silas Malafaia, who launched the movement. “The Brazilian people are the supreme power, and God is the supreme judge.”
“The planned presence on September 7 is unprecedented at this scale,” Malafaia said. “Evangelicals have always participated, albeit timidly. I have never seen such mobilization of evangelicals for an event in the history of Brazil. We have always kept to ourselves. This time there is a huge participation of leaders and people.”
In early August, Malafaia even said that Bolsonaro should summon the armed forces against the “toga dictatorship” that he says has taken the Federal Supreme Court by storm.