Two years after Bolsonaro’s election: Brazil on a perpetual campaign trail

The 28th of October marked two years since the national elections that catapulted Jair Bolsonaro to the presidency of Brazil. While the government took pains to show the work it has been doing throughout this period, emphasizing infrastructural projects, drug trafficking combat, and an agribusiness expansion, Brazilians are facing high COVID-19 infection rates and an unprecedented increase in deforestation and forest fires. With the municipal elections fast-approaching, Bolsonaro gave way to his initial stance against endorsing candidates running for mayor and city councillor – fearing that a potential loss might damage his own image – and publicly supported a few names, mostly in the country’s major cities. This about-turn, far from being an unorthodox political manoeuvre, is rather congruent with the president’s flexible approach to governance which appears to prioritise popularity and political alliances over policies and consistence.

As a populist leader, Bolsonaro successfully presented himself as an ‘anti-system’ candidate who could challenge the political and cultural elites and bring about an end to the ills that ravaged politics. Indeed, despite his long-standing political career, which begun in 1989, Bolsonaro not only managed to dissociate himself from the tainted image of a politician at a time when the country was shaken and vexed by the revelation of a series of corruption scandals, but by emphasizing his military past and inviting the reserve Army General, Hamilton Mourão, on his ticket, he effectively repositioned himself outside of the political establishment.

Yet two years after his election, Bolsonaro continues to behave as if he is outside of ‘the system’ and consistently distances himself from any event that does not appear favourable to his popularity. Determined to maintain the support of his most loyal ‘ideological’ base and expand his constituency beyond the groups that voted for him in 2018, the Brazilian president agilely acts to preserve his image as an outsider; someone who struggles to govern in earnest despite the many adversities and obstacles his enemies lay on his way. In his effort to forge an image of a down-to-earth honest ‘soldier’ working for his country and its people, Bolsonaro is quick to renege on decisions taken or avoid taking responsibility for the consequences of his own actions, preferring instead to blame others.

Bolsonaro’s approach to the COVID-19 pandemic is a case in point. His initial attitude towards the new virus was to play down the risks and minimise its effect. ‘The worst is over’, he optimistically affirmed on 5 May. Yet the ‘little flu’ had far more devastating effects than the president was willing to admit, and, in large part due to the lack of effective nation-wide prevention policy, Brazil quickly became one of the global epicentres of its spread. Bolsonaro presented the Brazilian people with a false dilemma between saving lives and saving the economy. He chose the second, claiming that it was the only way forward since a large part of the population that works in the informal sector could not afford to stay home and self-isolate.

Instead, he fervently promoted chloroquine, an antimalarial drug with no proven efficacy against the coronavirus. An analysis of Bolsonaro’s posts on Twitter, between January and April 2020, found only two mentions of ‘social distancing’ and ‘confinement’ – the only effective measures of prevention available so far – while he twitted about the unproven ‘miraculous’ use of chloroquine 20 times. Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine were later made available in the public healthcare system (SUS) to be used for the treatment of COVID-19 with the mutual consent of a medical doctor and the patient. The president opted for a magic bullet, appearing to offer an instant solution to a complex problem, instead of risking protracted or less popular approaches with proven benefits.

Print Share Comment Cite Upload Translate Updates

Leave a Reply Cancel reply