Brazil should have elected Aécio Neves in 2014

Everything being said about the 2018 presidential elections was already true four years ago. Namely, the extreme political polarization, the violent discourse, the use of fake news and social media to amplify communication with voters. But what we’ve seen this year is incomparable in terms of magnitude. Several cases of violence have been reported – two people were murdered, both Workers’ Party supporters. Things are ugly.

Since then, we’ve had the impeachment of former president Dilma Rousseff, a political event that shook the Brazilian political world to its core and helped escalate tensions. Of course, let’s not forget Operation Car Wash (which also started in 2014), a corruption investigation that managed to put the country’s most popular politician (and a clear favorite in 2018 had he been able to run) behind bars.

Against this backdrop, Jair Bolsonaro gained visibility nationwide first as a bizarre figure – someone who would say shocking...