- President Jail Bolsonaro has insisted on using paper ballots in the 2022 general election in recent weeks, based on unproven accusations of fraud in Brazil’s electronic voting system.
- Bolsonaro threatened not to accept the results of next year’s presidential election.
- His popularity has declined, and opinion polls show that he lost to former left-wing President Luis Inácio.
On Tuesday, the Brazilian Armed Forces demonstrated an unusual military outfit for far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, after his plan to change the country’s voting system may have suffered setbacks in Congress.
Various politicians say the parade of naval tanks, armored personnel carriers and amphibious vehicles is a form of intimidation just hours before lawmakers are expected to vote against Bolsonaro’s constitutional amendment.
The Navy stated that the parade was planned long before the vote in the House of Commons, with the purpose of inviting the president to participate in Sunday’s annual military exercises.
The President’s Media Office did not respond to requests for comment on the march.
During the world’s second deadliest Covid-19 outbreak, Bolsonaro insisted in recent weeks to use paper ballots in the 2022 election due to his decline in popularity. This is based on the unproven e-voting system in Brazil. Allegations of fraud.
He threatened not to accept the results of next year’s presidential election, and opinion polls showed that he lost to the former left-wing president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. None of them officially announced their candidacy.
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As the military parade passed by, Bolsonaro stood on either side of the commander of the armed forces, standing outside the Presidential Palace of Planalto. A naval officer in combat equipment went up the ramp and handed him an invitation letter.
The sight of tanks in the Presidential Palace disturbed the Brazilians living under the military dictatorship of 1964-1985.
The Speaker of the House of Commons and legislator Arthur Lira called the military parade before the major vote a “tragic coincidence” and did not accept the invitation to participate in the armed forces exercise.
Other lawmakers said the unusual military presence in front of the presidential palace was meant to intimidate them.
Centrist Senator Simone Tebet of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party said on social media: “On the day of the vote on the paper ballot amendment, the tanks on the street were a real, clear and unconstitutional threat.”
“Bolsonaro has turned military training into a political spectacle,” said the left-wing Congresswoman Pepetua Almeida, calling it a response to his declining poll numbers. “This shot would be counterproductive,” she wrote on Twitter.
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