Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida. File photo
| Photo Credit: AP
A polarised nation. A right-wing populist casting doubt on the electoral system then refusing to concede. A riot by his supporters in the capital aiming to keep him in power.
This isn’t just the story of Donald Trump, but also that of Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro. The Western Hemisphere’s two largest democracies faced similar challenges in 2020 and 2022, respectively, but their institutional responses have been dramatically different.
Brazil moved swiftly to rule Mr. Bolsonaro ineligible for office until 2030, a penalty that could be extended by ongoing criminal investigations. In Washington, however, Republicans in the Senate helped acquit Mr. Trump in an impeachment trial that would have prevented him from seeking the presidency again.
Different approaches
Brazil’s democracy is young, having emerged from military dictatorship four decades ago. The ghost of authoritarianism, which led millions to watch the new movie I’m Still Here, continues to haunt many Brazilians — although Mr. Bolsonaro, an outspoken cheerleader of the past regime, still won his first presidential race handily.
By contrast, the U.S. of 2020 had no memory of homegrown authoritarianism, which “gave rise to a lot of naivete,” according to Steven Levitsky, author of How Democracies Die.
Mr. Levitsky said the U.S. lacks effective constitutional mechanisms that, for better or worse, can ban parties and candidates deemed a threat. Brazil’s Constitution was written in the wake of the dictatorship and in response to it, providing tools to prevent coups, according to anthropologist Isabela Kalil, a coordinator of the Extreme Right Observatory, a research group based in Minas Gerais state.
The Constitution grants the electoral authority authorisation to void candidacies or unseat politicians voted into office in situations that undermine the legitimacy of elections. The authority has the power to enforce decisions nationwide, unlike in the U.S. where each state determines whether someone can appear on its ballot.
Six months after Mr. Bolsonaro left office, the court barred him from running again until 2030, ruling that he had abused his power and sowed unfounded doubts about the electronic voting system.
“Our country has shown itself to have a robust democracy, the result of the zeal of the constituents who endowed the institutions with the democratic DNA of the Constitution,” Justice Edson Fachin said, speaking last week at an event marking the anniversary of Bolsonaro supporters storming the presidential palace and Supreme Court in the capital, Brasilia.
It handled Mr. Bolsonaro’s case “neither in a dramatic way to interrupt the election, nor in a way to transform Mr. Bolsonaro into a martyr, but rather in a certain way to isolate Mr. Bolsonaro enough, and that diminished the chances of him gaining political capital,” Ms. Kalil said.
When electronic vote results came in, key members of the political establishment from across the spectrum endorsed them, including the lower house’s Speaker Arthur Lira, a one-time Bolsonaro backer.
Legal actions
Mr. Bolsonaro isn’t giving up. He has insisted he will be a presidential candidate in 2026, and polls show he would be competitive if allowed to run.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland named a special counsel to oversee the investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the election two years after the fact — in November 2022. Special counsel Jack Smith said in his report released on Tuesday that he believes his probe would have resulted in a conviction had voters not returned Mr. Trump to the White House, ruling out any prosecution.
Mr. Bolsonaro could stand trial for any of the cases at the Supreme Court by next year, and a conviction would extend his ineligibility for election by years, and possibly land him in jail. He has denied any wrongdoing, and accused the court of overstepping to persecute him.
Where U.S. and Brazilian authorities’ responses align is in the prosecution of rank-and-file supporters who staged uprisings. More than 1,500 people who participated in the January 6 Capitol insurrection have been charged with federal crimes.
In Brazil, 898 people have been held criminally responsible for the January 8 riot, with 371 convicted and the remainder signing leniency agreements, according to a Supreme Court report released January 7. It said another 485 investigations are ongoing. Bolsonaro supporters claim they are being persecuted by Lula’s administration.
Published – January 18, 2025 10:23 am IST
