2022 Race

Bolsonaro promises former Defense Minister as running mate

bolsonaro running mate braga netto
A former chief of staff and Defense Minister, Mr. Braga Netto is one of Mr. Bolsonaro’s closest advisers. Photo: Marcos Corrêa/PR

On Sunday evening, President Jair Bolsonaro said he intends to announce, “within the next few days,” retired Army General Walter Braga Netto as his vice-presidential nominee for the 2022 election. If confirmed, the choice will be a natural one for the president. A former chief of staff and Defense Minister, Mr. Braga Netto is one of Mr. Bolsonaro’s closest advisers. As we showed in January, he has always been the president’s top choice for running mate. 

In one of his last actions as Defense Minister, Mr. Braga Netto published a statement praising the 1964 military coup as a “milestone of political evolution” for Brazil, which “resulted in the re-establishment of peace in the country and the strengthening of democracy.” 

Unsurprisingly, the minister failed to mention the state-sponsored torture and killings carried out by the 21-year-long dictatorship, which also closed Congress and censored the press.

A year ago, major newspaper O Estado de S.Paulo reported that Mr. Braga Netto, while still serving as Defense Minister, had issued a short and not-so-sweet threat to House Speaker Arthur Lira: if Congress did not approve President Bolsonaro’s proposal to reintroduce paper ballots into Brazil’s fully electronic voting system, there would be no elections in 2022.

In August 2021, the House killed that proposal. On the eve of the vote, the Armed Forces staged​​ an unprecedented military parade outside of the Congress building as a show of force by the president.

Mr. Bolsonaro has hinted that he may challenge the election results if they don’t go his way — and has tried to sow distrust in Brazil’s voting system. The president currently trails former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva by 19 points according to recent polls.