Bolsonaro opposition struggles to bury the hatchet

For the majority of Jair Bolsonaro’s 17 months in office, the Brazilian president has governed without much of an opposition. The Workers’ Party — the main center-left force in Brazil — has struggled to make its mark as an opposition party, while the center-right has been divided among those who support the government’s libertarian agenda, and those who want to separate themselves from the administration, with one eye on the 2022 elections. So far, almost all of the crises facing the government have been self-inflicted. But the tide could be turning, as several forces scramble to create a broad popular front against Mr. Bolsonaro, as political tensions boil over to levels unseen since Brazil’s return to democracy in 1985.

Bolsonarism as a coherent political force simply did not exist a few years ago, and its rise to power has thrown together opposition parties and politicians who used to be at each other’s throats. Mr. Bolsonaro’s success in the 2018 election had a lot to do with the collapse of both the center-right and the center-left, especially through the radicalization of the traditional center-right voter base.

Now, those who led ex-President Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment in 2016 — and those who called it a coup — are now on the same side of the fence, along with those who celebrated the imprisonment of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2018, and those who called him a political prisoner.

There are many differences among the opponents of the current government. However, for the first time since Mr. Bolsonaro came to office, a serious attempt has been made by prominent opposition leaders to set differences aside and focus their energy on halting the president’s crusade against Brazilian democracy. Over the past week, at least three movements have proposed a popular front against the government. But there are still many obstacles to building a consistent and effective movement against the president.

One of the movements goes by the name “