Jair Bolsonaro is Brazil’s president until January 1, but has virtually disappeared from public life, including social media, since losing to Lula on October 30.
The far-right president was initially walled in silence for nearly 48 hours after the announcement of the result, leaving doubts hanging over a possible challenge to the victory of left-wing icon Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. He emerged from this silence on November 1, during a speech of barely two minutes in front of journalists who had been waiting for two days in front of his official residence at the Alvorada Palace.
Bolsonaro did not explicitly acknowledge his defeat, let alone congratulate his opponent on his victory, leaving it to his chief of staff to ensure that he had “authorized the transition” with the future left-wing government.
The next day, he spoke again, in a short video posted on social networks, asking his supporters to “clear” the main roads where they had erected roadblocks since the beginning of the week. And the head of state then caused trouble by describing as “legitimate” demonstrations by his supporters in front of barracks demanding military intervention to prevent Lula from gaining power.
Since then, radio silence. It has been almost a week since the President of Brazil has spoken. His official diary shows that he has remained reclusive in his Alvorada residence since November 1, the day of meetings with ministers at the Planalto Palace, where the offices of the presidency are located.
Sources cited by the daily O Globo attributed this prolonged absence to health problems, revealing that the 67-year-old head of state “had suffered bouts of fever and seemed dejected”.
Asked by AFP, the presidency did not immediately respond to questions about the health of Jair Bolsonaro. But the president of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party (PL) had an explanation, of a psychological nature, which he delivered on Tuesday at a press conference. “We thought we were going to win (the election) and when you lose an election like this, so little, it’s a real sadness,” said Valdemar Costa Neto. “I think that’s why Bolsonaro is less present. »
The president’s Twitter account, which has been very active throughout his term, has been virtually unpublished since the second round of the election. Only an enigmatic photo representing him, looking somber, facing his supporters, in front of a large Brazilian flag, was published, without any comment, late Tuesday morning. Even Bolsonaro’s traditional Thursday night live on Facebook fell by the wayside.
“Censorship”
His sons, also politicians, have greatly reduced the frequency of their publications on the networks. The eldest, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, contented himself with the message “Dad, I am with you no matter what” the day after the defeat, then two messages on Sunday on the “censorship” of which supporters of his father.
Same story with his younger brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro, who shared a tweet from Elon Musk, new owner of Twitter, promising to look into the suspension of accounts of bolsonarists suspected of disseminating false information.