Who will prove to be the protector of democracy in these tests?
In BrazilSupporters of former President Jair Bolsono, who are on a test before the Constitutional Court for a coup, are facing against the Brazilian judiciary.
In France, the French right -wing is protesting against what they believe on a “political decision”, against the supporters of the French right -wing Marine Le Penn, who were convicted of corruption.
And in South Korea, many people see the President Like Suk YeolWhich was recently rejected by the Constitutional Court of South Korea as a “martyr for democracy”. Yeol surprisingly imposed a martial law in December 2024 to protect the country from the anti-Korean forces.
Criticism of Brazil’s political scientist Carlos Perera from the university Fundkao Gateulio class, criticism of Brazil’s allegedly biased judiciary is actually a sign of its strength. “Those who lose always accuse the judiciary of being biased and unjust,” he told DW.
When Brazilian President Luiz Insio Lula Da Silva was convicted and arrested for corruption in 2018, Lula’s leftist supporters also made the same argument.
“Similar allegations can be seen in France, Germany and America,” The book co-writer Perera said, “Why didn’t Brazil’s democracy die?”
“The judiciary is not getting weaker on the basis of the perception of those who are currently on the losing side,” he said.
Generals on tests
Despite the results, the test against former Brazilian President Bolsoro is already historic. For the first time after the end of the military dictatorship (1964–1985), high-ranked military officers are hearing the trial before a civil court.
Apart from Jair Bolsono, 33 more people have been charged, including former ministers and generals.
According to the Constitutional Court of Brazil, the allegation “Elimination of the democratic rule of the law, attempts the coup of the coup on 8 January 2023, damage to the monuments and membership of a criminal armed organization.”
Perera said, “Action before the constitutional court shows how strong the institutions of Brazilian democracy are.”
However, due to this flexibility, somewhat contradictory appears.
Brazil: Disabled, but democratic
According to Perera, the “expensive and incompetent” dialogue between the Brazilian judiciary, Parliament and the government is exactly what the governments prevent governments from implementing the schemes quickly.
He said, “There is always a lack of prominence in the Congress in the government, no one can rule alone, it will have to negotiate, and it preserves democracy.”
After the end of the military dictatorship in 1989, he has not been the President in Brazil with a stable majority in the Congress after the first free election. The merger of an American style of legislative and executive branches against the judiciary, where judges are nominated by Parliament, are unimaginable in Brazil in Brazil.
Repeated impeachment
So far, two presidents have been removed from the post in Brazil.
In 1992, Chairman Fernando Color de Melo In the impeachment proceedings due to corruption, the Congress was removed from the post, and in 2016, the country’s first female president, Dilma Roussef was impeached for taxes and budgetary crimes, Perera recalls.
The current Brazilian President Lula was put on a test in 2018. He spent two years in jail for corruption.
“It proves that Brazilian institutions are strong and independent and are able to punish malpractices, whether it is a right -wing or leftist government,” says Perera.
More polarization in Brazil
Perera told DW, “However, this does not mean that social polarization will decrease.”
During the latest demonstrations in the last weekend in Sao Paulo, the limit of this division was clear.
Prof.-Boleseono participant Ana Olivera is sure that “all right-wing politicians in Brazil are persecuted as right-wing extremists.”
“We live in a dictatorship,” he made Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Told Paulo.
Another protestor explained the incidents of January 8, 2023 as “Vendetta” by President Lula. “All this was arranged by Lula, he was angry with Bolsoro,” he told the same newspaper.
Even though the people interviewed in the performance were all sure that Bolsono would run in the 2026 presidential elections, experts consider it basically impossible. The former President has already been convicted of misuse of power and spreading fake news by the Supreme Election Court of Brazil and hence a ban on running to the political office by 2030.
