The prospect Jair Bolsonaro as president of Latin America’s largest country has put Brazil under a global spotlight.

A former army captain, Bolsonaro has lauded the use of torture and murder under Brazil’s military dictatorship, and made appalling public statements about gay people and women. Yet in spite of this – or perhaps because of it – he obtained 46 percent, or over 49 million votes, in the first round of voting.

Many analysts have attributed his sharp rise to the corruption scandals involving Brazil’s state oil firm, Petrobras, and the Odebrecht construction company. Brazilians flooded the streets as information emerged about the depth and scope of the debacle, which implicated all of the country’s major parties including Bolsonaro’s own Social Liberal Party.