Jair Bolsonaro, who has drawn comparisons toDonald Trump, has won Brazil’s presidential election.
The far-right politician, who spent almost three decades as a congressman, won 55.2 percent of the vote on Sunday, easily defeating his opponent Fernando Haddad, who represents the left-wing Workers’ Party.
In addition to campaigning on promises of relaxed gun laws and a reduction in the corruption that has engulfed the country’s political system, Bolsonaro, 63, hasspoken favorably of torture and dictatorship, reported the BBC.
He has also drawn criticism for his public statements about women and homosexuality.
In 2014, Bolsonnaro told a congresswoman he “wouldn’t rape you because you don’t deserve it,”CNBCreported, adding that as recently as last year, he said that his fifth child ended up being a girl because “I had a moment of weakness.”
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“I believe that for the majority of gay people it’s a behavioral issue,” he remarked during their 2016 meeting. “When I was young, talking about percentage, there were few [gay people]. Over time, due to liberal habits, drugs, with women also working, the number of homosexuals has really increased.”
“I also tend to say if your son starts hanging out with certain people with a certain behavior, he’ll adopt that sort of behavior,” the then-congressman added. “He’ll think it’s normal.”
During the exchange he also told Page, “I’m not going to look at you and say, ‘I think you’re gay,’” adding that, “if I were a cadet in the military academy and saw you on the street, I would whistle at you. All right? You’re very pretty.”
“This is a really radical shift,” Scott Mainwaring, a professor at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government told the outlet. “I can’t think of a more extremist leader in the history of democratic elections in Latin America who has been elected.”
Bolsonaro will assume office on January 1 of next year.
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While theTimesreported that even a year ago, many politicians veterans appeared doubtful that Bolsonaro’s extreme rhetoric would find support among voters, his rise also coincided with dissatisfaction with the leftist Workers’ Party.
A criminal investigation, known as “Operation Car Wash” implicated many leaders from the party in a graft scheme, CNN reported.
Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was in office from 2003 to 2011, was arrested in April, charged with corruption and money laundering, and handed a 12-year prison sentence, according to the outlet. While he initially tried to run for president this year, he was prevented from doing so, after which his running mate, Haddad, took over.
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Due to his numerous polarizing opinions and remarks, the politician has been called the “Trump of the Tropics,” a comparison which Bolsonaro doesn’t mind.
“I’m not richer than him. That’s all I do not admire,” he said during an interview withTIME.
Trump has also spoken favorably of the politician, and tweeted on Monday that the pair had an “excellent call” following his victory at the polls.
On Sunday, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also remarked that Trump had called Bolsonaro “to congratulate him and the Brazilian people on today’s elections.”
Bolsonaro also echoed Trump’s “Make America Great Again” rallying call in a video broadcast on his official Facebook account on Sunday, the Times reported. Bolsonaro told his supporters, “We have everything we need to become a great nation.”
Continuing, he added, “Together we will change the destiny of Brazil.”
source: people.com
