Brazilian presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro said he meant amendments passed by Congress when he spoke of changing the Constitution. His proposals include judicial reform, changes to criminal liability rules and ending executive re-election.
The senator made the clarification Wednesday at his campaign headquarters in Brasilia, a day after saying in Goiania that the right would have the votes in Congress to “change the Constitution” and “redemocratize” Brazil. He is due to face incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in an Oct. 25 runoff.
Bolsonaro said he intended to pursue only amendments handled by Parliament and declared his “full respect for the Constitution.” His proposals include reforming the judiciary, lowering the age of criminal responsibility, ending re-election for executive offices, revising Lula’s tax reform and changing political rules.
On criminal policy, he has proposed lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 18 to 16, and to 14 for serious crimes such as rape and drug trafficking. He has also promised to support the construction of 500,000 additional prison places.
For the Supreme Federal Court, Bolsonaro has proposed limiting judges’ individual rulings, reducing the court’s powers and changing its appointment rules. He has also called for impeachment proceedings against three justices, including Alexandre de Moraes, Flavio Dino and Cristiano Zanin. The court is handling his father Jair Bolsonaro’s appeal against his conviction over an attempted coup.
Flavio Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party won 121 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 28 in the Senate. Constitutional amendments require three-fifths support in both chambers in two votes: 308 of 513 deputies and 49 of 81 senators. He would need support from other parties.
The Unión-Progresistas party federation endorsed him ahead of the runoff. His campaign estimates it could bring 87 elected deputies and 11 senators into his camp. The Novo party also announced its support.
Lula challenged Bolsonaro to back ending the six-days-on, one-day-off work schedule under discussion in the Senate. The opposition candidate did not say how his party would vote, instead backing a flexible hourly work arrangement.