Former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) used his social networks on Sunday (22) to defend the formation of a conservative majority in the Federal Senate, at a time when he is tried by the Supreme Court (STF) on charges of attempted coup.
The statement was published with an image alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with the caption: “Give me 50% of the House and 50% of the Senate that I change the destination of Brazil.”
The gesture is part of Bolsonaro’s broader political strategy to reorganize its institutional support base, focusing on the High House of Congress, whose members have prerogatives as judging STF ministers. According to Bolsonaro, the priority of the Liberal Party (PL) in 2026 will be the Senate – considered by him the key space to “rebalance his powers.”
On Saturday (21), the former president stated that he was tasked by Valdemar Costa Neto, president of the PL, to lead the articulation of Senate candidates for the 2026 elections. In his assessment, the strengthening of the conservative bench is a condition for “restoring democracy”.
“Only in force in the Senate can we speak of real democracy,” Bolsonaro told direct criticism of the Supreme Court. The court is currently analyzing whether the former president commanded an attempted institutional break after defeat at the polls in 2022.
Bolsonaro’s speech suggests that even with restrictions imposed by the Electoral Justicehe seeks to influence the formation of the next legislature, focusing on containing the judiciary and recovering political protagonism.
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External discourse as an internal strategy
The publication in support of the US attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, led by Donald Trump, acts as a symbolic discourse aimed at the internal public.
By aligning Trump and Netanyahu-two figures who personify the rhetoric of confrontation against institutions-Bolsonaro seeks to rekindle militancy and press the debate on the limits of the judiciary in Brazil.
Although the gesture seems to be a manifestation of foreign policy, Bolsonaro’s real target is the national political scenario. The image of strength and authority, expressed in the sentence on Congress, aims to mobilize allies, tensize relations between powers and keep its institutional confrontation agenda.
