Europe threatens sanctions if Bolsonaro does not respect Brazil election result

Brazilians go to the polls on Sunday

Waving goodbye? Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro (Getty)

European politicians have said sanctions should be brought against Brazil if right-wing populist president Jair Bolsonaro refuses to recognise the result of the country’s general election, which has its first round of voting on Sunday.

Bolsonaro is widely expected to lose and fears have been growing that he will not accept defeat, but instead claim he has been cheated out of victory in a move already likened to the approach adopted by Donald Trump after he lost the US presidential election in 2020.

That ultimately led to the violence in Washington DC on 6 January 2021, after a mob of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol building. Similar scenes are now feared in Brazil.

Without supplying evidence, like Trump, Mr Bolsonaro has already alleged that electoral authorities are against him and that electronic voting cannot be trusted.

That may be because opinion polls have constantly had him trailing and the latest survey is bad news for Bolsonaro; it even hints he is so far behind that the scheduled second round of voting on 30 October may not be needed.

An IPEC survey gives his left-wing opponent – and former president – Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva a whopping 17-point lead, with 48 per cent support versus 31 per cent for Bolsonaro.

If a candidate polls above the 50 per cent threshold, a second round is not required.

Bolsonaro’s comments have spooked those abroad and in an open letter to the leaders of the European Commission, some 50 MEPs warned that Mr Bolsonaro was degrading democracy in Brazil by systemically attacking its electoral system, it was reported on Thursday.

“We urge you to take additional steps to make it unequivocally clear to President Bolsonaro and his government that Brazil’s constitution must be respected and attempts to subvert the rules of democracy are unacceptable,” the parliamentarians said.

“The EU should state that it will use different levers, including trade, to defend Brazil’s democracy and human rights,” they added.

The US on Wednesday passed a resolution to re-evaluate its relationship with Brazil in the event that the new Brazilian government comes to power through undemocratic means. Washington has called on the South American country to conduct a “free, fair, credible, transparent, and peaceful” election.

In an update on the election, Freedom House, a US non-profit, said: “Bolsonaro is harnessing social media to amplify his efforts to pre-emptively cast doubt on the integrity of the balloting, and suggesting that he might not accept unfavourable results.

“The tactic is much like one employed in 2016 and 2020 by former US president Donald Trump, whose example helped to popularise it among some world leaders.”

Whatever the result and the margin of victory for either candidate, there have been warnings of violence.

On Monday it was reported that a 39-year-old supporter of Lula was stabbed to death in a bar in the city of Cascavel after being asked who he would vote for.

Earlier in the campaign, a Bolsonaro backer killed a local official of Lula’s Workers’ Party in the city of Foz de Iguacu and there have been less serious clashes between Bolsonaro and da Silva voters.

Workers’ Party lawmaker Paulo Guedes said on Twitter his car had been shot at three times by Bolsonaro supporters during a rally.

“How far does this hatred go?” Guedes said on his social media channels.