Far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro wins Brazil's presidential election
Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right candidate in Brazil's presidential election, was declared the winner Sunday, with 55.7 percent of the vote.
Bolsonaro defeated the leftist Workers' Party candidate, Fernando Haddad. The Workers' Party governed Brazil for more than a decade, and pre-election polls showed that 25 percent of those who supported Bolsonaro were not major fans of his, but rather did not want the Workers' Party to win. Earlier this month, Bolsonaro won the first round of elections, but because he didn't reach the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff, a second election was held. Voting in Brazil is compulsory.
Bolsonaro has a history of making racist, homophobic, and misogynistic remarks, Brazilian media reports, and in September, he was stabbed during a rally. There have been several anti-Bolsonaro protests ahead of Sunday's election, with one organizer, Luka Franca, telling CNN that Bolsonaro "has opened a Pandora box. He's given a voice to an ultra-right population who want to voice their prejudice and annihilate anyone who is different."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
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.
