Bolsonaro on 2022 Brazil Election: My Options Are 'Arrested, Killed, or Victory'

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he believes his future holds three options: prison, death, or victory in Brazil’s 2022 presidential election.

“I have three alternatives for my future: being arrested, killed, or victory,” Bolsonaro said at a meeting of evangelical Christian leaders in the central Brazilian state of Goiás on August 28.

Bolsonaro, 66, was the victim of a nearly fatal stabbing while he campaigned during the 2018 Brazilian presidential election. A former official member of Brazil’s far-left Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) perpetrated the knife attack, which was captured on video. The president was hospitalized from July 14-18 for health complications stemming from the severe intestinal injuries he suffered during the 2018 stabbing. The hospital stay was the latest for Bolsonaro in connection with his abdominal injury, which continues to negatively impact his intestinal health.

“Another challenge, a consequence of the assassination attempt promoted by a former member of the PSOL, left arm of the PT [Brazil’s democratic socialist Worker’s Party], to prevent the victory of millions of Brazilians who wanted changes for Brazil. A cruel attack not only against me, but against our democracy,” Bolsonaro wrote in a statement posted to his official Twitter account during his July hospital stay.

Brazilians elected Bolsonaro to the country’s highest office in October 2019 as a member of Brazil’s conservative Social Liberal Party (PSL), though he has since cut ties with the party. The president is currently locked in a tense battle with Brazil’s judiciary and federal election authorities and is simultaneously seeking reelection to a second term in office next year.

Bolsonaro has recently stepped up his criticism of Brazil’s federal electronic voting system, claiming it is subject to fraud. He has insisted that voters in Brazil’s upcoming presidential election use “printable and auditable” paper ballots as a backup security measure to help defend their ballots from potential fraud in the electronic system. Brazil’s Supreme Court reacted to the president’s remarks by ordering that Bolsonaro face investigation for alleged “slander and inciting criminal acts” in connection with his “undocumented claims of massive vote fraud” on August 4.

“I refuse to be intimidated,” Bolsonaro told reporters in response to the investigation’s announcement earlier this month.

“I’m going to continue exercising my right to freedom of expression, to criticize, to listen to, and above all answer to the will of the people,” the president vowed.

“I swore to give my life for the nation in case of foreign or domestic attack. Brazil is under internal attack,” he asserted.