Who is Jair Bolsonaro?
Jair Bolsonaro, born in 1955, was an army captain and then a federal deputy for Rio de Janeiro for nearly three decades before winning the presidency in 2018. His term ran from 2019 to 2022, and he lost the 2022 runoff to Lula. His party, the PL, ran his son Flávio Bolsonaro as its presidential candidate in 2026, and Lula won the 25 October runoff. Jair himself was not on the ballot: on 11 September 2025 the First Panel of the Supreme Federal Court convicted him in the coup plot case, and the conviction became final in late November 2025. He is serving the sentence in house arrest under Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
Previously: President of Brazil (2019-2022) · Federal deputy for Rio de Janeiro (1991-2018) · Army captain
Documented positions
- Congress promulgated Constitutional Amendment 103, the pension reform, on 12 November 2019, during his term.Source: previdenciarista.com
- The Eletrobras capitalisation priced on 10 June 2022 raised about R$ 33.6 billion and cut the federal government's share of total capital to 37 percent, ending its control.Source: felsberg.com.br
- His 2022 platform promised to keep Auxílio Brasil at R$ 600 from January 2023 and to exempt workers earning up to five minimum wages from income tax.Source: poder360.com.br
- His government's decrees raised the number of guns a person could own from two to four in 2019 and to six in 2021, and Lula revoked them on his first day in office.Source: jornalcontabil.com.br
- The same platform committed to preserving and expanding the right to self-defence, chiefly through legal means that give citizens access to guns.Source: jornaldebrasilia.com.br
- On 11 September 2025 the Supreme Court's First Panel convicted him 4 to 1 of an armed criminal organisation, attempted abolition of the democratic rule of law and a coup d'état, among other counts.Source: cnnbrasil.com.br
- On 3 July 2026 Justice Moraes extended his house arrest without an end date, with an ankle monitor, visit limits and a ban on phones and social media.Source: agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br
Record
His government pushed privatisation, with the Eletrobras sale the largest, and eased gun access by decree, and Congress passed the pension overhaul in 2019. In 2022 the platform for a second term kept the R$ 600 income transfer.
The legal outcome is precise. The sentence is 27 years and 3 months, imposed on 11 September 2025 and final in late November 2025. He was held in preventive detention from 22 November 2025, moved to the Papudinha unit in January 2026, and placed in house arrest on 24 March 2026. A request to annul the conviction, filed on 12 May 2026 and assigned to Justice Nunes Marques, was pending as of late June 2026.
Supporters credit his government with market-oriented reforms and gun rights. Critics, and the court that convicted him, point to the coup plot case.
In their words
“Deus, pátria, família, vida e liberdade”
