Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro finds himself in the unusual situation of being the incumbent but not the front runner for the October election, a fraught race that is expected to put his conservative agenda and far-right rhetoric to the test.

Since kicking off his candidacy for re-election on July 24, Mr. Bolsonaro has been trying to appeal to voters beyond his loyal base, from ramping up his running showdown with the country’s Supreme Court to seeding the idea of electoral fraud.

Earlier this year, he accused two Supreme Court judges of taking sides in the coming election by favouring his opponent, former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, through rulings against his policies and investigations into his administraton. Mr. Bolsonaro also granted a pardon to an ally convicted by the Supreme Court for threatening its judges – and did not rule out freeing other allies. He also used the army to question the legitimacy of the electoral process, criticizing the security of ballot boxes.

Full article at The Globe and Mail’s page. Date of publication: 29/08/2022.

The article was also published in print.