After five months in office, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is battling an uncooperative Brazilian Congress, street protests, a family corruption scandal and falling approval ratings.
The stumbling start for the far-right leader who rode a wave of dissatisfaction with Brazil’s political class to victory has led his backers to organize demonstrations in support of him in cities across the country yesterday.
However, the vaguely worded calls, representing a mixed bag of demands and protests, were being questioned by some in Bolsonaro’s political party and in right-wing movements.
Photo: Reuters
Bolsonaro has said he would not participate.
The idea for demonstrations in favor of Bolsonaro gained steam after tens of thousands of people across Brazil last week protested budget cuts to public education imposed by his government.
It was the first mass street movement against the former army captain who took office on Jan. 1 and has seen his popularity steadily slipping.
Five months into his term, more people now disapprove of his government than approve of it.
Pollster XP Investimentos said its poll showed that 36 percent of Brazilians think Bolsonaro’s government is bad or terrible, while 34 percent say it is good or great.
“Bolsonaro got off to a very bad start, especially in the first month,” said Sergio Praca, a political scientist at the Getulio Vargas Foundation University, referring to a corruption scandal involving his family.
Just weeks into his presidency, questions mounted over a report from financial regulators that flagged irregular payments in 2016 and 2017 between his son, Flavio, then a state legislator and now a senator, and his driver.
Prosecutors suspect the payments are part of a common scheme in lower levels of Brazilian government, in which politicians hire ghost employees who kick back portions of their salaries into the elected official’s bank account.
Bolsonaro and his son ran on anti-corruption platforms — a large reason why many voters chose him over a leftist candidate from the scandal-ridden Workers’ Party.
Praca said things have not been looking up since then.
Brazil’s economy is sluggish and its currency has weakened, while Bolsonaro is struggling to make alliances in Brazil’s infamously dealmaking Congress, which is preventing him from passing his agenda, including a desperately needed pension reform.
Brazil’s pension system, which allows swaths of the population to retire in their early 50s, is the single largest factor contributing to the country’s deficit.
In March, during Carnival, Bolsonaro posted a pornographic video on Twitter saying that it was a warning to the nation of how decadent the celebration has become.
“The beginning of his government has been marked with uncertainty and confusion,” Praca said.
Amid the setbacks, Bolsonaro’s online army of die-hard supporters has called for demonstrations in support of their president.
However, their message has become a confusing mix of calls for conservative policies and criticism of Brazil’s institutions, which they said are corrupt obstacles to Bolsonaro’s agenda.
Some supporters said the demonstrations are to support pension reform, others against the mass of centrist parties in Brazil’s Congress that focus on dealmaking.
More radical groups have said the protest is to demand the closure of Congress and the Brazilian Supreme Court.
Bolsonaro, who earlier in his political career said he would close Congress if he were ever president, told reporters he did not support calls to close institutions.
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