Brazil on Course to Usher in New Era of Hard-Right Politics
- Voting in runoff of presidential elections takes place Sunday
- Army reservist Jair Bolsonaro expected to beat Fernando Haddad
This article is for subscribers only.
Brazil looks set to pivot sharply to the right Sunday with the election of a former Army captain who wants to privatize state companies in an ailing economy, liberalize gun ownership and mine the rain forest.
Barring an upset, Jair Bolsonaro, 63, will win the presidency after a divisive campaign that encompassed his stabbing, an onslaught of fake news and the imprisonment on corruption charges of former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who had been the front-runner. Lula’s successor, Fernando Haddad, 55, has largely failed to shake off public anger over his Workers’ Party’s record of graft.