Brasilia: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro drew criticism Tuesday for leading the military parade outside the Presidential Palace, a power show when he aroused the popularity and assembly of investigations.
Smiling with a military top brass on his side, the distant leader stood on the steps of the palace as a long convoy of tanks and armored vehicles submitted through the Brazilian capital.
The critics said the screen was reminiscent of the Brazilian military dictatorship 1964-1985, where Bolsonaro, a former army captain, openly nostalgic.
“It’s sad …
our democracy has the means to defend ourselves from the explosion of the coup,” said Senator Omar Aziz, Chair of the Senate Committee who investigated the handling of Covid-19 which was widely criticized by the government.
Bolsonaro, 66, also faced an investigation on his attack on the Brazilian electronic voting system, which he dangled – without evidence – full of fraud.
The Supreme Court and the Great Election Court have commanded it to investigate potential crimes in their unrelenting campaigns of the system, which has been used by Brazil since 1996.
The military parade came on the same day the Congress defeated Bolsonaro’s bill to overhaul the system.
The President wants “print and audable” ballots for each vote, in addition to the electronic system.
But the bill only gets 229 of 308 sounds the bottom room that will be needed to advance.
Bolsonaro trailed in the election for the presidential election in October next year.
The opponent accused him of setting a stage to claim widespread fraud if he lost, following the footsteps of his political idol, former US President Donald Trump.
Bolsonaro insisted on no connection between the military parade and the bill was debated before the congress.
Officially, the event was for the armed forces to provide an invitation to the president to the coming military training outside the capital.
However, this was the first tank had passed the Presidential Palace, Congress and the High Court since the era of dictatorship.
“The President uses this tank parade to try to intimidate the congress and the Supreme Court,” said Political Scientist Mauricio Santoro from Rio de Janeiro State University.
“He wants to show the armed forces at his side.” The nine opposition parties issued a joint statement that condemned the appearance, including the Labor Party of former President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, who led Bolsonaro in a poll for 2022.
The army caught a group of protesters who tried to block the convoy.
The small crowd supporter Bolsonaro was also present, several signs of calling for the military to intervene to “save Brazil.”