Democracy on the Razor’s Edge

Brazil’s presidential elections are scheduled to take place on October 2, 2022. The confron­tation between the extreme-right incumbent president Bolsonaro and the center-left former president Lula Da Silva provides a rare setting. The election places Brazil at a crossroads and will set the stage for either a compre­hensive commit­ment to democracy under Lula or a continuation along the path to authori­tarianism under Bolsonaro. Recent polls suggest that the most likely scenario is a win for Lula. Nevertheless, Brazil’s democratic institutions are conti­nuously under attack. Currently, the possibility of the elections being pre­emptively cancelled or the final results being contested cannot be fully dismissed.