{"id":2155,"date":"2018-10-11T02:24:26","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T02:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/?p=2155"},"modified":"2018-10-11T02:24:26","modified_gmt":"2018-10-11T02:24:26","slug":"brazil-edges-toward-bolsonaro-as-a-last-resort-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/2018\/10\/11\/brazil-edges-toward-bolsonaro-as-a-last-resort-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazil Edges Toward Bolsonaro as a \u2018Last Resort\u2019 Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"
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RIO DE JANEIRO \u2014 By the time Brazilians were done voting Sunday, mighty power brokers had been tossed out of office, long-dominant political parties had been humbled, and a far-right populist suddenly looked like he just might be the most powerful man in the country.<\/p>\n

It was, in short, the most sweeping political shift Brazil had ever seen in a single election since democracy was restored in 1985.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are watching today is the collapse of our current system,\u201d said Maria Herm\u00ednia Tavares de Almeida, a political scientist at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo.<\/p>\n

The near-winner in the first round of voting in the presidential race was Jair Bolsonaro, a former army captain. He offered few detailed policies. But his draconian approach toward fighting violence \u2014 he would make it easier to for the police to kill suspected criminals and imprison more people for longer \u2014 appealed to many in a nation traumatized by rising crime, a dispiriting economy and a political class widely regarded as venal and unresponsive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr. Bolsonaro\u2019s show of \u201cdiscipline and strength\u201d has attracted middle-class voters, said Thiago Arag\u00e3o, a political consultant based in Bras\u00edlia. \u201cThey treat Bolsonaro as a last resort, as someone who could contain the growth of violence in Brazil,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When they embraced him, sending him to the second round with 46 percent of the vote, Brazilians sent an unmistakable message: They want a drastic course correction. And if a measure of authoritarianism is required, so be it.<\/p>\n

This is a shocking reversal for Brazil. When the country emerged from two decades of military rule in 1985, the population celebrated the end of a regime that had killed or disappeared 434 people and tortured thousands.<\/p>\n

In 2002 Brazilians elected as president Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva, a former metal worker who rose through union ranks as he fought to bring down the dictatorship. He was followed in office by Dilma Rousseff, his handpicked successor and a former guerrilla who was tortured under the dictatorship.<\/p>\n

The Workers\u2019 Party governed until 2016, when it was swept out of office after the impeachment of Ms. Rousseff amid a painful recession and a widespread investigation into graft that tainted much of the country\u2019s political leadership.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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That series of traumas has made some older Brazilians look back to the military years with nostalgia \u2014 a sentiment openly embraced by Mr. Bolsonaro, who says he intends to name military officers to his cabinet. This is a huge shift in a country where the military has largely stayed out of politics for 30 years.<\/p>\n

Brazilians are not alone in their demand for radical change. Support for democracy in Latin America is at its lowest level in more than a decade, according to the pollster Latinobar\u00f3metro. In Brazil in 2017, only 13 percent of the population said they were very satisfied democracy \u2014 far below the average of 30 percent for the region. Elsewhere in the world, frustration with the status quo has fueled the rise of populists with open disdain for democratic institutions like a free press and an independent judiciary.<\/p>\n

As Mr. Bolsonaro and his opponent in the election, Fernando Haddad of the leftist Workers\u2019 Party, geared up on Monday for the second round of votes on Oct. 28, Brazil\u2019s political establishment was struggling to make sense of the political earthquake that had just rattled the nation.<\/p>\n

Candidates affiliated with Mr. Bolsonaro performed far better than polls had suggested, an indication he could have robust support in Congress and among elected officials across the country if he becomes president.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n