https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/2/brazil-congress-elects-bolsonaro-allies-as-new-leaders
Brazil has recently elected two new members to the Brzillian senate. Both are close allies with Brazil’s current leader President Jair Bolsonaro who was elected in 2018. This was an extremely important victory for Bolsonaro as he now has even more people with power that support his far-right agenda. The addition of these two new members will also greatly help Bolsonaro’s re-election campaign in 2022. Bolsonaro has been in trouble recently, he got personally involved in the leadership conflicts in both houses of legislators. He has received 61 votes of impeachment recently and he has been desperately trying to get on good terms with the houses of legislators to clear his name. In the Brazilian government system the speakers of the Senate and Lower courts hold the most power in the political system. They are the”key gate-keepers” of politics in Brazil as they hold the power to decide who comes up for a vote. The speaker of the lower court has the ability to accept and disregard motions of impeachment which have been quite common for the man known as “Tropical-Trump”.
I think this is a situation that could turn into something bigger depending on a few things. If Bolsonaro isn’t impeached and he and his allies are able to gain more power for the right that could have a lasting impact on the economy and political landscape for years to come in Brazil. However if Bolsonaro is impeached and taken out of office that can also cause problems. His allies will obviously be upset and could potentially shake things up throughout the government. However it would also be a loss for Brazil for them to have to get used to a new president in a country where issues are arising all the time. They are having a ridiculous amount of new covid cses everyday, some of the worst in the world in fact. They also have lost a lot of economic opportunity in the Amazon rainforest fires.
This can have an impact on the region because of the weight Brazil’s government holds in the region. It is their best interest to keep relations as best as possible with Argentina with them being on the rise in economic growth and power. A change in president may not be a bad thing for Brazil and specifically if their current president has over 60 motions of impeachment from his own legislative members, that is saying something. If Bolsonaro where to stay in office however, his right wing agenda won’t be good for their relations with other countries especially when Brazil needs as much support as possible with their covid and amazon struggles.