Brazil election: is Jair Bolsonaro preparing to stage a coup?

Opposition candidate now ‘clear favourite’ to win, but Bolsonaro’s behaviour is still cause for alarm

Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro speaks to supporters during a demonstration on Brazil's Independence Day on 7 September 2021 in Sao Paulo, Brazil
Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro speaks to supporters during a demonstration on Brazil's Independence Day on 7 September 2021 in Sao Paulo
(Image credit: Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images)

Is Jair Bolsonaro preparing to stage a coup? It’s starting to look that way, said Fernando de Barros e Silva in Folha de São Paulo. Last week, Brazil’s far-right president marked his country’s independence day by staging a huge rally in São Paulo. Addressing 140,000 supporters, he repeated his previous attacks on the integrity of Brazil’s electronic voting system, and lashed out at the Supreme Court, vowing to no longer follow its rulings.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up