The election of Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro was a triumph for the Right. Backed by the Brazilian elite, he was carried to victory by an emboldened conservative movement spearheaded by fundamentalist evangelical churches and supporters of the military dictatorship that lasted between 1964 and 1985.

Ever since he took power in 2019, debate has raged about whether Bolsonaro’s government can be characterized as fascist. All the while, emboldened by his victory, unambiguous fascism has seen a surge in popularity in Brazil. Membership in Brazilian neo-Nazi groups grew by 270 percent between January 2019 and May 2021. In Brazil, it is a crime to make, commercialize, and distribute Nazi material. This type of crime has also risen since 2015, with a sharp increase in occurrences since 2019. Meanwhile, both a famous Brazilian podcaster and a congressman argued that Nazi parties should be made legal.

Although Bolsonaro has suffered blows to his popularity since taking office, with his approval rating sinking to 22 percent, it’s apparent that far-right ideology is still very present in Brazilian society. We therefore have to take seriously the prospect that it will play a role in the elections scheduled for October 2022.