Bolsonaro Biting His Tongue to Seek Advantage in Brazil’s Runoff
- He has focused on positive agenda, avoided fraud allegations
- Restraint is bid to appeal to moderates, but it may not last
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Jair Bolsonaro emerged from the first round of Brazil’s presidential election with an unusually soft rhetoric, touting good economic news in a sign that he has started listening to advisers and avoiding controversial topics in a bid to win over moderate voters.
The usually combative leader, who came in second in the Oct. 2 vote but with a much stronger performance than major pollsters had anticipated, has refrained from alleging voter fraud as many feared, and even acknowledged that loss of purchasing power during the pandemic probably boosted support for his leftist challenger, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.