Elections in Brazil: Democracy and Multilateralism in Danger

On 4 October Brazil will hold an election which involves more than just the choice between Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro. It is a struggle concerning sovereignty, democracy and Brazil’s position in a rapidly changing world, with Washington keeping a close watch.

Because of the isolation that occurred during the Bolsonaro years, Lula has succeeded in bringing Brazil back to the international stage. As part of his foreign policy, he has made multilateralism and Brazilian sovereignty two central pillars, with the aim of restoring Brazil’s position in the UN, the BRICS and other international organisations.

Flávio Bolsonaro, on the other hand, represents a completely different course. His win would result in a presidential pardon being granted to his father, Jair Bolsonaro, and other coup at tempters, would mean moving much closer to Donald Trump, and could possibly lead to a return to the kind of nationalist isolationism which characterised Bolsonaro’s presidency.

The election is therefore taking place on a number of fronts, sovereignty being one of them — an area where Lula has a solid political argument; on the other fronts of corruption and public security, where the Bolsonaro family has sought to take advantage of public anger, even though it, too, is facing serious questions.

The corruption paradox

Here is an extraordinary paradox: although Flávio Bolsonaro has positioned himself as an alternative to a political system which is allegedly riddled with corruption, he too has found himself implicated in the allegations concerning Banco Master, one of the biggest financial scandals in Brazil’s history.

The controversy surrounding Flávio’s connection with banker Daniel Vorcaro, who is currently in prison, has increased. He has been accused of trying to obtain about US$31 million to finance a biographical movie about his father—considerably more than the roughly US$1 million typically tied to such a project in Brazil. This money was allegedly sent to Havengate, a Texas-based investment fund connected to the Bolsonaro family and said to have been set up to support Eduardo Bolsonaro, who resides in Texas and has been lobbying the Trump administration against Brazil.

Eduardo has openly shown his influence in Washington. Following the investigations into himself and his father, and then the sentencing of his father to 27 years’ imprisonment for having attempted a coup d’état, he has tried to obtain pressure from the United States on the justices of the Brazilian Supreme Court and on the country’s Prosecutor General, and has also advocated the tariffs imposed by the United States on Brazilian products as well as Washington’s decision to designate two major Brazilian criminal organisations as terrorist groups. He has been successful in all these cases.

To Bolsonaro’s supporters, these measures are proof that Washington is at last dealing with what they describe as a Brazilian political establishment that is........

© New Eastern Outlook