ASSESSMENTS

In Brazil, Any Anti-Corruption Mandate Will Meet Political Obstacles

Oct 26, 2018 | 06:15 GMT

A picture showing Brazilians rallying against far-right populist presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro in Sao Paulo on Oct. 20.

Brazilians rally against far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro in Sao Paulo on Oct. 20. Bolsonaro is leading his opponent, leftist Fernando Haddad, in the polls. Both candidates promise to fight corruption if elected president on Oct. 28, but various obstacles will shape the next administration's anti-corruption policy.

(NELSON ALMEIDA/AFP/Getty Images)

Brazil's right-wing presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro appears ready to ride an anti-corruption wave into power. Bolsonaro came only four points short of winning the presidency outright on Oct. 7. He now faces leftist Workers' Party candidate Fernando Haddad, who received 29 percent of the first-round vote, in an Oct. 28 runoff. Polling shows Bolsonaro comfortably ahead. A scandal at Brazil's state oil company Petrobras in 2014 swept aside many potential candidates who otherwise would have posed a significant challenge to Bolsonaro, and his populist promises to be tougher on corruption than his Workers' Party predecessors have been are resonating with voters, despite the relatively vague anti-corruption platform he has put forward....