Brazil is witnessing a pivotal moment in its politics after far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro began to unravel. The former president is also being harassed by 20 ongoing court cases. The fact that the police broke into his home and took away his mobile phone, passport and guns, that he is under investigation for allegedly forging his Covid vaccination card, that he was the mentor of the failed coup d’état on 8 overall political Class.
For example, the fact that he had to leave Brazil without a passport has already prevented him from traveling to Portugal to attend the meeting of the European extreme right organized in Lisbon. It was a hard blow that weakened him even in front of his most ardent supporters.
This is causing the political class, both the non-coup forces of the right and those of the centre, to look for alternatives to Bolsonaro’s leadership, which would only be used as an animator for the next local elections. And that’s only if he doesn’t end up in jail first.
While in prison, Bolsonaro will continue to maintain his hard-core right-wing fascist believers who will not abandon him and continue to make noise on social media. But his leadership at the national level is waning and political forces are repositioning themselves.
Currently, this situation may also affect the new progressive government, which continues to find it difficult to dominate Congress and approve its proposals, as it continues to approve, without a majority and even with difficulty, the new economic law.
There is growing evidence that Lula’s third term could be the last, not just for the left but for the Labor Party, which remains entrenched in its policies of an increasingly difficult left-wing majority in the country.
If Lula managed to return to power this time, it was precisely because he had the intuition to form a government that leaned toward the center, thus rallying the votes of those who supported Bolsonaro’s fascist right or the left of his old ones party did not want.
And it is this center that seems to be consolidating more and more, even beginning to emerge as a center-right movement that already dominates Congress today.
This might explain why they’re trying to convince Lula to stop talking about the war in Ukraine and worry about his world leadership, which he already has, and focus on governing inward by creating a government , which has a number of prime ministers and programs that, if passed by Congress, would mean a qualitative leap in politics in general. This policy that has been poisoned during the four years of the disastrous Bolsonaro government.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the Brazilian electorate is fed up with extremes and internal party disputes and wants concrete measures. From falling inflation, which penalizes both the middle class and the poorest classes, of whom there are millions, to the ability to find work for all, especially the new generations, who are the most sacrificed and could end up rejecting politics as something not theirs. Or worse, they end up seeing politics and democratic values as none of their business, since they don’t open up new horizons of hope.
Subscribe to the EL PAÍS America newsletter here and receive all the latest news from the region
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits