Losing the election may cost Bolsonaro more than just his office

Sunday’s electoral defeat was the first of Jair Bolsonaro’s political career. The former Army captain was been successful in all nine previous electoral races he entered since 1988 — one for city council, seven for Congress, and one for the presidency. But more than just losing his office, Mr. Bolsonaro will on January 1, 2023, also lose the myriad legal prerogatives that come with it. 

And that could be a problem for him, given the number of investigations he faces.

Federal elected officials in Brazil can only be prosecuted and tried before the Supreme Court. As the rules go, the top court in the land is better suited for politically sensitive cases, as justices are supposedly less vulnerable to political pressures. 

Even if we take that argument at face value, this prerogative has been synonymous with impunity, given the court’s slow pace.

The Brazilian Supreme Court is perhaps the world’s most overburdened of its kind. Each of the 11 justices must handle over 12,000 cases a year — ranging from crimes attributed to the president to divorce custody battles over pets. As a result, approximately one-third of all cases against politicians at the federal level are dismissed after reaching the statute of limitations.

Even...