Bolsonaro organized a parade with military tanks and the opposition denounced a “threat to democracy” | Amidst tensions over the electoral system

The President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, received this Tuesday a unusual military parade in Brasilia, a display seen by the opposition as a way to intimidate Congress in a key government vote. This military action takes place in a climate of tension due to the attacks by the president and his supporters against the electoral system.

the convoy of armored military vehicles of the three Armed Forces marched on Tuesday on the Esplanade des Ministries, a central avenue in the Brazilian capital where all the public energy buildings are located.

The operation organized by the Navy has taken place every year since 1988 in Formosa, about 300 kilometers from Brasilia, but it is the the first time that armored vehicles from Rio de Janeiro pass through Brasilia and are received by a president of the Republic.

Accompanied by the three commanders of the armed forces, Bolsonaro, army reserve captain, followed the parade from the gates of the Presidential Palace of Planalto and received an invitation to attend the military training which will take place on August 16 in Formosa. .

Critique of the show of force

The parade was harshly criticized by the Brazilian opposition, who accused Bolsonaro of trying to organize a show of force on the same day the Chamber of Deputies plans to start voting on a proposal by the President to resume voting on paper, in addition to the current electronic voting system.

Bolsonaro, who will run for re-election next year, insists, without evidence, that electronic ballot boxes promote “fraud” and, therefore, is pressuring Congress to adopt a mixed electronic and paper voting system.

“It is still unacceptable that the armed forces allow their image to be exposed in this way, used to suggest the use of force in support of the antidemocratic and coup-based proposal, defended by the President of the Republic, “nine opposition parties stressed today in a press release, including the Workers’ Party (PT) of the former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

For his part, the governor of Sao Paulo, Joao Doria, claimed that the “unprecedented and unnecessary parade of war tanks” in Brasilia is a “A clear threat to democracy”. “The initiative flirts again with authoritarianism. Brazil wants democracy, respect for the Constitution and freedom,” said Doria, Bolsonaro’s main antagonist among conservatives.

Former Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Rodrigo Maia, also of the conservative camp, compared Bolsonaro to former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori. “The last president who took a tour in a tank finished the government badly and was jailed: Alberto Fujimori, in Peru,” said Maia.

Amid growing criticism, The Navy stressed in a statement that the parade was scheduled before the vote in plenary session of the hemicycle, scheduled for Tuesday, and that there is therefore no “relationship” between the two events.