Flavio Bolsonaro vows to 're-democratise' Brazil after first-round win

Flavio Bolsonaro, the far-right frontrunner to become Brazil's next president, has vowed to 're-democratise' the country after a surprise first-round victory - language that critics say masks an illiberal project. The 45-year-old son of jailed former president Jair Bolsonaro beat incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday and enters the 25 October runoff as favourite.

Campaign rhetoric in Goiania

At a campaign event in Goiania, Flavio said he would use a greatly expanded far-right presence in Congress to change the constitution and 're-democratise this country.' He claimed he alone stood between Brazil and 'barbarity.' He did not detail which constitutional changes he intends.

The phrasing alarms opponents because Brazil's formal re-democratisation followed the end of a 1964-1985 military dictatorship in the 1980s. Jair Bolsonaro, a former soldier who has praised that regime, was sentenced last year to 27 years in prison for trying to engineer a coup after losing the 2022 election to Lula. The Supreme Court found he sought to convince military chiefs to help him cling to power, a plot that culminated in the 8 January 2023 Brasilia riots.

Critics hear a coup in democratic clothing

Left-wing congresswoman Taliria Petrone called the speech 'the announcement of a coup.' Newly elected Workers' Party congressman Marcelo Freixo said Brazil was re-democratised in 1988 and that Flavio's camp again wants a coup. Columnist Miriam Leitao warned in O Globo of 'another coup d'etat attempt,' arguing Flavio would inherit stronger tools than his father: large caucuses in both houses, a weakened supreme court, and support from the Trump administration.

Political scientist Miguel Lago noted that Bolsonaro's Liberal Party (PL) secured the Senate's largest caucus with 28 of 81 seats, enabling radical moves such as impeaching Supreme Court ministers viewed as enemies of Bolsonarismo. Lago described a potential victory as 'almost like a coup d'etat with the support of the majority of the population.'

Bukele model and a path for Jair's return

Flavio recently met El Salvador security minister Gustavo Villatoro in Sao Paulo and praised hardline security policies there. He told reporters Villatoro stressed using congressional majorities to enact 'necessary legal changes.' PL president Valdemar Costa Neto said that if Flavio wins, he would free his father, who could then become a strong 2030 presidential contender - and, analysts say, an influential minister shaping armed-forces leadership.

Brazil remains a polarised multiparty democracy; the Sweden-based V-Dem institute ranks it 28th on its liberal democracy index, ahead of both the UK and the US on that measure. That ranking is precisely why opponents say 're-democratisation' is a rhetorical inversion.

Why it matters

The runoff will decide whether Brazil's next presidency combines executive power with the largest far-right congressional bloc in decades. Markets, courts, and regional diplomacy are watching whether 're-democratise' means institutional reform - or a roadmap to dismantle checks that blocked Jair Bolsonaro's post-2022 power grab.