Bolsonaro joins Liberal Party ahead of 2022 election

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will join the centrist Liberal Party (Partido Liberal) ahead of next year’s presidential elections, according to a party statement released on Wednesday.

Bolsonaro had left his right-wing Social Liberal Party in 2019, leaving him without an official political affiliation. Bolsonaro is required to join a party if he wants to run for reelection, with independent candidates legally not allowed on the ballot. 

The far-right Brazilian leader is expected to sign his Liberal Party membership papers in Brasilia on November 22. 

The Liberal Party is a member of an establishment coalition of parties called “centrao.” These parties have helped Bolsonaro pass legislation while in office and protected him from impeachment. 

Joining the Liberal Party signifies a shift in political strategy by Bolsonaro, who railed against the establishment during his presidential campaign in 2018. 

Bolsonaro previously attempted to start his own party in 2019, Alliance for Brazil, but it failed to garner the necessary signatures for registration.

Photo – Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro. EPA-EFE/LAURENT GILLIERON

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