In Brazil, Only the Grandest of Coalitions Can Now Defeat Bolsonaro
In Brazil, Only the Grandest of Coalitions Can Now Defeat Bolsonaro
After Jair Bolsonaro's victory in Brazil, a Workers' Party triumph in the second-round run-off "looks almost impossible," says AS/COA's Brian Winter.
Brazilian leftists heaved a huge collective sigh of relief on Sunday night after Jair Bolsonaro – the homophobic, dictatorship-praising far-right front-runner – fell just short of a stunning first-round victory that would have made him president of one of the world’s largest and most diverse democracies.
Their relief may well be short-lived.
Fernando Haddad, Bolsonaro’s opponent in the pivotal second-round vote on 28 October, has a mountain almost as high as Brazil’s Pico da Neblina to climb if he is to scupper the right-wing populist’s dramatic political ascent.
