Jair Bolsonaro elected Brazil’s 38th president

With almost 90 percent of ballots counted, the most likely scenario heading into the runoff stage election day became a reality: Jair Bolsonaro will, on January 1, become Brazil’s 38th president. Just a few years ago, Mr. Bolsonaro was seen as little more than a radical right-winger who expressed nostalgia for the military dictatorship. Now, he becomes the leader of 207 million people, with a fragile democracy and obscene levels of inequality.

Jair Bolsonaro posted 56 percent of valid votes, approximately 52 million votes, against Fernando Haddad’s 44 percent.

Mr. Bolsonaro has shattered, throughout this campaign, each and every single postulate in Brazilian politics. Experts said he wouldn’t be able to grow minds due to his sheer lack of television and radio airtime. He did. In December 2017, one pundit called the president-elect’s campaign a “bubble” and said his “rhetoric is too simplistic.” It wasn’t. Another political scientist told AFP in August that Mr. Bolsonaro wouldn’t win because the majority of women widely rejected him. In the end, they didn’t.

Last month, failed Brazilian Social Democracy Party candidate Geraldo Alckmin claimed second-place Fernando Haddad was guaranteed to make the second round, but Mr. Bolsonaro was not. Respected statistician Pedro Guimarães agreed. Well… there almost wasn’t a second round at all.

Why did Jair Bolsonaro win?

There are myriad explanations behind Mr. Bolsonaro’s victory, including rampant anti-Workers’ Party sentiment among many sectors of society, the failure to unite...