The presidency of Jair Bolsonaro started on January 1, 2019, when he was inaugurated as the 38th president of Brazil, and ended on December 31, 2022, with the inauguration of the cabinet of Lula da Silva III on January 1, 2023. He was elected the president of Brazil on October 28, 2018, by obtaining 55.1% of the valid votes in the 2018 Brazilian general election, defeating Fernando Haddad. On October 30, 2022, Bolsonaro was defeated by Lula da Silva. In the years Brazil has been a democracy since 1985, Bolsonaro became the first president to lose an election as an incumbent.
His government was characterized by the strong presence of ministers with a military background, international alignment with the populist right and autocratic leaders, and was recognized for his anti-environmental, anti-indigenous people and pro gun policies. He was also responsible for a broad dismantling of cultural, scientific and educational government programs, in addition to promoting repeated attacks on democratic institutions and spreading fake news. His government was responsible for a significant reduction in bureaucracy and modernization of public systems, with the fast paced digitization of federal public services, through the creation of the digital platform "gov.br". Bolsonaro also sanctioned the Economic Freedom Act, reducing bureaucracy in economic activities and facilitating the opening and operation of businesses throughout the country, which proved very beneficial, especially for small companies.
During his administration, crime and unemployment in the country dropped, with the Brazilian GDP showing a growth rate averaging 1.5% per year. At the same time, inflation and hunger increased, while per capita income, social inequality and poverty reached its worst levels since 2012.
Background
Bolsonaro, at the time of his election, was a 27-year member of Congress; his victory has been credited to voter anger at the political class over years of corruption in politics, economic recession, and a surge in violent crime. According to sociologist Clara Araújo, “the dissatisfaction over the economic crisis, it seems to me, was channeled along with a discourse about conservative morals”. The economy of Brazil was recovering from crisis, with an unemployment rate of 12 percent at the time of the election, double that of five years prior. The crisis was caused by, among other factors, weak commodity prices; events revealed underlying weaknesses in the economy, which include poor infrastructure, excessive bureaucracy, an inefficient tax system, and corruption.
Cabinet and appointments
On October 11, 2018, days before his election victory, Bolsonaro had already announced DEM congressman Onyx Lorenzoni as the future Chief of Staff in his cabinet. On October 31, President-elect Bolsonaro announced astronaut Marcos Pontes as the future Minister of Science and Technology; as of that date, he had already confirmed two other ministerial nominations: Paulo Guedes as Economy minister, and Augusto Heleno as Defense minister. However, on 7 November, Augusto Heleno was appointed to the Institutional Security Office of Brazil. On the first day of November, Bolsonaro confirmed that anti-graft judge Sérgio Moro had accepted his invitation to serve as Justice minister. The decision drew backlash from the international press because Moro had convicted Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Bolsonaro's chief political rival in the election, for money laundering and corruption.
On November 11, 2018, O Estado de S. Paulo released a story stating that Bolsonaro's team has chosen World Bank director and former Finance minister Joaquim Levy to head the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES). A report was later issued by Folha de S. Paulo that Bolsonaro has yet to confirm the nomination of Levy to the post. A press release from Paulo Guedes's team, released the next day, confirmed Levy's appointment. On November 15, 2018, economist Roberto Campos Neto was named as the future Central Bank governor.
In December 2018 the final composition had emerged after weeks of announcements and appointments. The cabinet would include 22 personnel, of which 16 are ministers, two are cabinet-level positions and four are secretaries directly linked to the presidency. The 22 figure is down from 29 in the outgoing administration. Seven of the ministers will be military men, eight have technocrat profiles, and seven are politicians. Hindustan Times commented that "there are just two women in Bolsonaro’s government, which is double the number in the outgoing lineup under President Michel Temer", and that "there are no blacks, despite half of Brazil’s population being at least partly descended from Africans.
