Brazil elected a far-right president

Jair Bolsonaro wins the second round of the Brazilian presidential election with over 55% of the vote

Far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro has won the Brazilian presidential election and will take office on January 1, 2019 for a four-year term.

Bolsonaro promised to uphold the principles of democracy, but added that he wanted to change the direction of the country.

“We cannot continue to flirt with socialism, communism, populism and left-wing extremism... We will change the fate of Brazil,” he said, promising to eradicate corruption and fight crime hard, Reuters reports .

The agency notes that Bolsonaro is a big admirer of US President Donald Trump. After the victory, he promised to strengthen Brazil's rapprochement with advanced economies, rather than with regional allies.

Jair Bolsonaro, 63, is the first far-right politician to come to power since 1985, when the military junta ended . Bolsonaro made contemptuous remarks about defenders of the rights of women and sexual minorities, as well as insults to immigrants and representatives of national minorities. In particular, in one of the interviews, he said that a woman should receive a lower salary than a man, because she can become pregnant and go on maternity leave. Bolsonaro has also repeatedly spoken out nostalgically in defense of the military dictatorship.

Many in Brazil fear that Bolsonaro will resort to restricting human rights, civil liberties and freedom of speech. Human Rights Watch called on Brazilian judges, prosecutors and civil society to fight against any attempt by Bolsonaro to "undermine the democratic rights and institutions that Brazil has worked so hard to build over the past three decades."

Before the second round of the presidential elections in Brazil, many European, Latin American and American media wrote articles under the following headings: “A country with a license to hate” (El Pais, Spain), “The ghost of “anti-progressism” roams Latin America” (Rebelion, Spain), “ Fascist? Populist? What is the name of Jair Bolsonaro? (El Universal, Venezuela), “How the Brazilian Bolsonaro threatens the planet” (The Washington Post, USA), “Brazil is preparing to choose a hypocrite” (The New York Times, USA), Kommersant notes .

The petition “against fascism in Brazil” on Change.org has been signed by over 33,000 people. Among them are former presidents of France and Argentina Francois Hollande and Christina Kirchner, US Senator Bernie Sanders, human rights activist Angela Davis, publicist and philosopher Noam Chomsky. However, all this did not prevent Bolsonaro from winning.