Brazilian President Jair Bolonaro estimated Monday, November 16 that the wave of the conservative right that appeared with his election in 2018 would continue in Brazil, the day after municipal elections where his candidates almost all failed.
These elections brought "
the clear signal that the conservative wave of 2018 has appeared to stay,
" assured the far-right head of state on Twitter, before adding that the left had, according to him, "
suffered a historic defeat
".
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The president tried to distance himself after what commentators called "
the sinking
" of the candidates he called to vote for in the first round on Sunday.
"
My help to a few candidates was reduced to four direct (on Facebook) of three hours,
" he minimized.
Of the president's 13 proteges running for mayor, only two were elected and two others qualified for the second round of November 29.
Of the 45 city councilors Bolsonaro supported, only nine were elected, or 20%.
The most scathing setback was recorded by Bolsonarist candidate for mayor of Sao Paulo, TV presenter Celso Russomanno.
He arrived in a pitiful 4th place with 10.5% of the vote and it was Guilherme Boulos, of the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL), who qualified for the 2nd round (20.2%), a happy surprise for the left.
In Rio de Janeiro, another protege of Bolsonaro, the unpopular outgoing mayor Marcelo Crivella (Republicanos, right), a neo-Pentecostal ex-pastor, qualified for the second round, but with only 21.9% of the vote , which leaves him with very little chance.
The traditional parties of the center and the right emerge strengthened from the 1st round of municipal elections in Brazil, according to political commentators.
Bolsonaro, who is no longer affiliated with any party and had been elected under the image of a
populist
“
anti-system
”, had decided not to get involved in this campaign, which mainly involved local issues.
But last week he finally chose to support candidates to "
eradicate communism
".
On Sunday, the president deleted a post from his Facebook account in which he called on voters to support candidates who were mostly defeated, according to the AFP fact-checking team.