AS recently as two months ago, few people in Brazil other than Jair Bolsonaro’s most ardent supporters believed the far-right congressman had more than an outside shot of winning the race to lead Latin America’s largest nation.

Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had been ahead in the polls for a year despite a corruption conviction and a jail sentence that began in April.

Even though Bolsonaro always placed second in the polls, his support hovered around 30 percent and analysts said he had likely reached his ceiling.

His history of comments offensive to women, blacks and gays, combined with his praise of the 1964-1985 military dictatorship and a largely unremarkable 27 years in Congress created the general impression that, even if he survived the first round of voting, he would ultimately be defeated against almost any competitor in the second round.

But then several things happened that helped elevate the former army captain to president-elect: Bolsonaro got stabbed and nearly died, traditional coalitions on the left and right collapsed and it became apparent that social media had replaced television airtime as the most dominant force in the elections.

Those events reverberated in a nation hungry for radical change after years of turmoil that provoked rage at the ruling class.

Through it all, Bolsonaro’s simple campaign promises to clean up corruption and confront rising crime with brutal force have resonated with a population hungry for new approaches.

“How did Donald Trump become president in the United States?” said Carlos Manhanelli, political marketing specialist and chairman of the Brazilian Association of Political Consultants. “It’s basically the same thing. Bolsonaro is speaking to the minds of voters. He isn’t worried about being politically correct.”

For Bolsonaro, the near-death experience gave his campaign a huge boost. Although he was hospitalized for three weeks and couldn’t campaign in the streets, his ordeal dominated media coverage. That was particularly significant for a candidate who was only allotted a few seconds of free television airtime each day.

Instead of having to debate or defend his ideas, Bolsonaro stayed in his hospital bed and continued to hammer away at his campaign themes via Facebook Lives and Twitter.

“God willing, from next year we will, together, change the destiny of Brazil,” he said in one pronouncement.

His campaign kept all but friendly media companies from visiting him and announced he would skip several debates on doctors’ orders. Even after being discharged in late September, Bolsonaro avoided debates during the last month, citing his health.

Fernando Haddad of the Workers’ Party tried to shame Bolsonaro into debating, saying he would be willing to meet his rival anywhere. He and supporters also forcefully argued that Bolsonaro represented a clear risk to Brazil’s young democracy. But those concerns appear to have been largely drowned out on social media, where Bolsonaro’s campaign out-maneuvered Haddad’s.

Beyond numerous daily posts and tweets by Bolsonaro and his three older sons, all politicians, the campaign has undertaken a massive effort on messaging service WhatsApp. In recent weeks, Brazilians have been bombarded by messages that extol Bolsonaro and condemn Haddad, often making outrageous claims.

Along the way, Bolsonaro’s campaign may have broken campaign finance laws. An investigative report by the daily newspaper Folha de S. Paulo last week alleged that friendly businessmen were bankrolling the WhatsApp effort, leading to an investigation by the electoral court. Bolsonaro has been responding ever since with the kinds of aggressive tweets and videos that thrill supporters.

The newspaper “is Brazil’s biggest fake news,” Bolsonaro said. “You guys will not get any more government advertising money. Sold out press, my condolences.”

Born on March 21, 1955 in the town of Glicerio, Sao Paulo, in the southeast region of Brazil, Bolsonaro is of mostly Italian with some German ancestry.

In his final years in high school, Bolsonaro was admitted to the prep school of the Brazilian Army and then was sent to the Academia Militar das Agulhas Negras, Brazil’s main military academy, graduating in 1977.

He briefly served in the army’s parachutist units. His superior officers described him as “ambitious and aggressive.”

His first rise to publicity came in 1986 when he gave an interview to the news magazine Veja. He complained about low salaries in the military and claimed that the high command was firing officers due to budgetary cuts and not because they were displaying “deviations of conduct,” as the command was telling the press.

Despite being reprimanded by his superiors, Bolsonaro received praise from fellow officers and wives of military men, becoming a household name for a lot of hardliners and right-wingers who were growing disenchanted with Brazil’s new civilian democratic government. Bolsonaro served in the military for 17 years, reaching the rank of captain.

In 1988, he entered politics by getting elected city councilor in Rio de Janeiro by the Christian Democratic Party. In the 1990 elections, he was elected a federal congressman from the same party. He served four consecutive terms. He has been affiliated with several other Brazilian political parties over the years.

In his 27 years of service in the Brazilian National Congress, he has only presented two proposals which became law, and was best known for his offensive and incendiary remarks.

Bolsonaro has offended many in Brazil and beyond with his vitriolic rhetoric.

He once told a lawmaker he opposed that she “wasn’t worth raping;” he has said he would rather see his sons die than come out as gay; and he commented after visiting one black community that they “do nothing — they’re so useless I doubt they can procreate.”

He has praised former Chile President Augusto Pinochet, expressed support for torturers and called for political opponents to be shot, earning him the label of “the most misogynistic, hateful elected official in the democratic world.”

Bolsonaro speaks nostalgically about the country’s 1964-1985 military dictatorship and has promised to fill his government with current and former military leaders.

But an even larger portion of voters rejected Haddad and the tarnished legacy of the Workers’ Party, which had won the past four presidential elections.

The polls came on the heels of Brazil’s worst-ever recession, a staggering multi-billion-dollar corruption scandal and a year of record-setting violent crime.

Haddad stood as a surrogate for the popular — but imprisoned — ex-president Lula, who led Brazil through the boom years of 2003 to 2010, before both the country and his left-wing political project went bust.

The highly divisive Lula, who stands accused of masterminding the massive pilfering of state oil company Petrobras, was barred from running because he is serving a 12-year sentence for bribery.

Center-right President Michel Temer, who is set to leave office as the most unpopular leader in Brazil’s modern democracy, congratulated Bolsonaro and said the transition process would have started Monday although Bolsonaro is scheduled to take power in January.

(SD-Agencies)

Bolsonaro in his own words

On refugees:

“The scum of the earth is showing up in Brazil, as if we didn’t have enough problems of our own to sort out.” (September 2015)

On gay people:

“I would be incapable of loving a homosexual son. I’m not going to be a hypocrite: I’d rather my son died in an accident than showed up with some bloke with a moustache.” (June 2011)

“I won’t fight it or discriminate, but if I see two men kissing each other in the street, I’ll whack them.” (October 2002)

On democracy and dictatorship:

“You’ll never change anything in this country through voting. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Unfortunately, things will only change when a civil war kicks off and we do the work the [military] regime didn’t. Killing some 30,000 …. Killing them! If a couple of innocents die, that’s OK.” (May 1999)

“I am in favor of a dictatorship … We will never resolve serious national problems with this irresponsible democracy.” (1992)

On human rights:

“I’m in favor of torture.” (May 1999)

“Brazilian prisons are wonderful places ... they’re places for people to pay for their sins, not live the life of Reilly in a spa. Those who rape, kidnap and kill are going there to suffer, not attend a holiday camp.” (February 2014)

On women:

“I’ve got five kids. Four of them are men, but on the fifth I had a moment of weakness and it came out a woman.” (April, 2017)

On race:

“I don’t run the risk [of seeing my children date black women or being gay]. My children were very well raised.” (March 2011)

(SD-Agencies)