On the eve of the #EleNão protests, as military police raid communist party headquarters across Minas Gerais, neo-fascist candidate Jair Bolsonaro tells reporter he will not respect the election results unless he wins. He is currently trailing PT candidate Fernando Haddad by 6% in the polls for the final round.
by Brian Mier
Speaking to sensationalist crime reporter Datena, from his hospital bed in the elite Albert Einstein Hospital, where he is expected to be released tomorrow, neo-fascist candidate Jair Bolsonaro said, “Whether the military institutions will accept the result or not is up to the military commanders. But from what I see on the streets, I will not accept any election results that do not declare me the winner. My mind is made up about this.”
This marks the first time since the return to democracy in 1989 that any candidate has threatened to abandon the democratic process. During another moment in the interview he said that if the PT party takes over, the military will intervene the first time it makes a mistake. “We, of the armed forces, are the guarantors of the Constitution,” he said, in a statement that is factually incorrect on two counts – neither is Bolsonaro an active member of the armed forces, nor is the military legally attributed with the role of guaranteeing the 1988 Constitution.
These comments came amidst a wave of new corruption allegations against the openly racist and misogynist candidate. Earlier in the week, his ex-wife accused him of robbing R$800,000 from a safety deposit box in the Banco do Brasil and threatening to kill her, and R$2.6 million in Rio de Janeiro properties that were not declared to the electoral courts were discovered registered in his name.
Bolsonaro’s comments come during a period in which repression against the left is on the rise and the military is testing its power. Brazilian general Etchegoyen now oversees 16 government agencies, including intelligence and the Federal Police, and the Military has been in control of Rio de Janeiro’s state security apparatus for 7 months.
Also on Friday, September 28th, the Minas Gerais military police raided Brazilian communist party (PC do B) headquarters across the state looking of electoral propaganda with Lula’s image on it, with a blanket search warrant which gave them authority to break doors, cabinets and furniture and arrest anyone who resisted.
Both Bolsonaro’s comments and the police suppression of the Communist Party came on the eve of what promises to be the largest protest in Brazil since 2013, as women across the country and in 60 countries abroad will demonstrate against Jair Bolsonaro and his promotion of rape culture in the #EleNão campaign.
In an Instagram post seen by millions yesterday, Madonna expressed her solidarity with the campaign. In the social media networks, Bolsonaro followers immediately accused called her a communist and accused her of doing it out of a desire for “15 minutes of fame”.
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