Brazilians are heading to the polls in November to elect new mayors and city councilors in each of the country’s 5,570 municipalities. But the most important election before the 2022 presidential race will happen within the confines of Congress: the decision on who will be the next House Speaker and Senate President. That will determine which measures the government will manage to pass to counter the effects of the pandemic — and determine whether Jair Bolsonaro’s desire for re-election is realistic or not.
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Background reading:
- Why is Brazil’s Congress so fragmented? Editor-in-chief Gustavo Ribeiro answers.
- A brief history of Brazil’s “Big Center” — and why they are so important.
- Jair Bolsonaro’s new bedfellows in Congress deliver results. But for how long?
- The 2019 pension reform places House Speaker Rodrigo Maia as one of Brazil’s main power brokers.
- Emergency Covid-19 aid has been essential for low-income workers, explains Natália Scalzaretto. And it is giving Jair Bolsonaro a life line.
- Brazil loses a decade of inequality reduction to the pandemic.
- While President Bolsonaro plans his re-election, Brazilian governors — many of whom could challenge him in 2022 — face multiple crises.
Explaining Brazil is made by:
- Gustavo Ribeiro is the editor-in-chief of The Brazilian Report. He has extensive experience covering Brazilian politics. His work has been featured across Brazilian and French media outlets, including Veja, Época, Folha de S.Paulo, Médiapart, and Radio France Internationale.
- Euan Marshall is a journalist and translator who has lived in São Paulo, Brazil since 2011. Specializing in Brazilian soccer, politics and the connection between the two, his work has been published in The Telegraph, Al Jazeera, The Independent, among others.
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