President Jair Bolsonaro is prompting fears for Brazil’s democratic system by threatening to appoint new judges to the Supreme Court, the central institution to the country’s young democracy. Between the two presidential rounds, Bolsonaro is blowing hot and cold on the issue – making threats to galvanise his base, then backing down to reassure undecided voters. If re-elected, however, the far-right president could well find the numbers to make changes to the court.
The outcome of the bitter contest between Bolsonaro and social democratic ex-president Lula Inacio de Silva is hard to predict, ahead of the second round of Brazil’s presidential election on October 30.
