Sao Paulo Before the hot phase of the election campaign in Brazil, the three leading presidential candidates traveled to Europe: First, ex-President Luis Inácio Lula was received in November by the then-designate Chancellor Olaf Scholz and honored like a head of state by Emmanuel Macron. Right-wing populist incumbent Jair Bolsonaro traveled to Vladimir Putin in Russia shortly before the outbreak of war and declared his solidarity.
And now the anti-corruption judge Sergio Moro is trying to increase his foreign policy weight in Germany with visits to politics and business.
Six months before the election, 49-year-old Moro is the third candidate in the polls, with around nine percent of the vote. The field is led by two-time ex-president Lula (44 percent), incumbent Bolsonaro (23 percent) is in second place.
The fates of these three men are closely linked. They have been shaping Brazilian politics for years. As a federal judge, Moro convicted and convicted ex-President Lula of the Labor Party during the 2017 “Lava-Jato” (“car wash”) corruption investigation. He then began his prison sentence and was unable to take part in the 2018 elections.
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This was won by the previously largely unknown ex-military Bolsonaro. Mainly because the Brazilians were fed up with the scandals and tricks of Lula and the Workers’ Party.
First honored as a folk hero, later despised as a prisoner
Right-wing populist Bolsonaro appointed Judge Moro to his cabinet as Minister of Justice. But Moro resigned from his position a year and a half later. In protest because the president sabotaged the fight against corruption after Bolsonaro and his family were suspected of being involved in illegal activities themselves. “I didn’t want to be an accomplice there,” says Moro in conversation and continues to speak as nasally and tonelessly as when he was a federal judge for 22 years.
No assistants or advisers accompany the presidential candidate. His tone changes when asked about the sticking points in his story. And there are several of them.
On the one hand, everyone knows him since he led the investigation into the “Lava Jato” corruption scandal in Brazil. He revealed that many billions of dollars were shifted between the oil company Petrobras, construction companies such as Odebrecht and politicians under the PT government. Moro condemned numerous prominent entrepreneurs and politicians.
This made him a folk hero. No one in Brazil had ever dared to condemn and imprison the elite. But now, depending on the poll, up to 50 percent of Brazilians would never vote for him. Only Bolsonaro has an even higher rejection rate. Many Brazilians also consider Lula to be unelectable.
>> Read here: Brazil’s nightmare: One year Jair Bolsonaro
The reason for Moro’s descent in public opinion is apparently that as a judge he is said to have worked too closely with the public prosecutor’s office. It is said that he politically persecuted ex-President Lula and that he was biased.
Not only many Brazilians think that now. The Supreme Court (STF) also rejected the Moros judgments with these arguments against Lula a year ago.
“With all due respect, I think the STF’s verdict was a big mistake,” Moro defended. “Because it means the return of impunity.” The same court that upheld Lula’s sentence and approved his incarceration suddenly changed its mind three years later.
The political system has successfully defended itself against criminal prosecution. “At a certain point we had more enemies than supporters,” says Moro.
Moro’s criticism of his competitors for the presidency
Why did he hope to continue the fight against corruption as Bolsonaro’s justice minister? After all, Bolsonaro has never made a secret of the fact that he despises democracy and the rule of law, while admiring dictatorship and its torturers. Moro defends himself with the weak argument that there was no suspicion of corruption involvement with Bolsonaro until his election victory. He also hoped that Bolsonaro would moderate himself in office.
Moro thinks it would be an ethical disaster for Lula to become president again. To this day, Lula and the Labor Party have not acknowledged their complicity in the rampant corruption or the economic misery.
He finds it shameful that Lula is received like a statesman in Europe, but that his corruption involvement is ignored. “For us Brazilians, who know Lula’s scandals, that’s disappointing.” With regard to Bolsonaro, his criticism is more tame: Moro wants to win the votes of disappointed Bolsonaro supporters. But they won’t switch to Moro that easily. For them Moro is now a traitor.
Politicians in Brazil say that Moro’s popularity would find it difficult to exceed around ten percent approval – and thus block the rise of other alternative candidates. His election advisor says that Moro has to come across as a little more relaxed in the election campaign, more as a candidate. We will work on that.
It remains to be seen whether Moro will gain height during his visit to Germany.
More: End-of-the-world mood for Bolsonaro: Superminister Guedes becomes a burden for Brazil’s president
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