Bolsonaro denied on Monday that he intends to stage a coup if he loses the October presidential election, while he said he rejects a proposal to revise an article of the Constitution that was adopted as an attempt by allies of the far-right president to grant him immunity from any future criminal prosecution.
The head of state’s attempt to turn the military parade for Brazil’s independence day (September 7) into a campaign event with just weeks to go before the election has fueled concerns that Mr Bolsonaro, nostalgic for military junta, is trying to revive his popularity by using the army.
Mr Bolsonaro is coming in second in all polls ahead of the election, within striking distance of his centre-left predecessor Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.
However, he assured during a podcast interview: “I’m not afraid of losing the election. I’m not worried about that,” before adding “if I wanted to stage a coup, I wouldn’t say anything.”
Despite his assurances, the Brazilian far-right leader reiterated his theories that the electronic voting system facilitates “fraud”, even though they have been repeatedly refuted by authorities, notably the electoral tribunal (TSE).
“What we want is transparency because the reputation that some people are building for me is that of a coup plotter who will not accept the result of the election,” he said.
Asked about reports that his allies want to seek to revise an article of the Constitution so that former presidents can hold senatorial seats for life — and thus have legal immunity — Mr Bolsonaro said he was not interested in any such proposal. “I don’t want that immunity,” he insisted.
Also yesterday, a BTG/FSB poll conducted by telephone showed that Mr. Bolsonaro has closed the gap with Lula, that the difference between the two candidates is in single digits (7%), with the far-right president at 34% and his center-left predecessor at 41%. Their percentages were 31% and 44% respectively in the previous version of this rolling poll, in July. The difference stood at 14 points in May.
Other polls want the former president to maintain a double-digit margin (18 points in a survey by the Datafolha institute, 12 points in a survey by Genial/Quaest).
The reported improvement in Mr Bolsonaro’s image is attributed to an increase in social spending, in particular the restoration of the monthly allowance for families on the lowest incomes, and his efforts to reduce the price of fuel, the main driver of rising inflation — key concern of voters.
Even the BTG/FSB survey, however, has Mr Bolsonaro losing in the second round, garnering 39% of the vote to his opponent’s 51%. The survey was conducted on a sample of 2,000 voters from August 5 to 8 and has a margin of statistical error of ±2%.
SOURCE: AMPE
Source: Capital
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