In a high-stakes political shakeup that has shifted Brazil’s political landscape just months ahead of a critical presidential election, Brazil’s bicameral Congress has successfully overridden President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s veto of a sweeping sentencing reform bill that will drastically cut the 27-year prison term handed to former President Jair Bolsonaro for his role in a post-2022 coup conspiracy. The outcome marks the second major setback for Lula’s left-wing administration in as many days, and it has amplified momentum for the opposition bloc led by Bolsonaro’s eldest son, who is already locked in a tight polling race for the nation’s top office.
The core of the controversy dates back to 2022, when Bolsonaro, a one-term president and former army captain who held office from 2019 to 2022, lost his reelection bid to Lula. Rather than concede power peacefully, he plotted a coup to overturn the democratic result in an attempt to cling to the presidency. Supreme Court justices found him guilty of involvement in the conspiracy, including prior knowledge of plots to assassinate Lula and his running mate Geraldo Alckmin, and sentenced him to 27 years behind bars last year. The coup attempt ultimately collapsed after top Brazilian armed forces leaders refused to back the plot, allowing Lula to be sworn in without incident on January 1, 2023. Earlier this year, the 71-year-old former leader was moved to house arrest on humanitarian grounds due to ongoing health concerns.
The controversial new law overhauls how Brazilian courts calculate prison sentences for people convicted of crimes including coup plotting, and would slash Bolsonaro’s sentence from 27 years to just over two years. With a conservative majority holding control of Congress, the chamber moved to advance the bill earlier this year, prompting Lula to issue a veto in a bid to block the reform. But during a tense, emotionally charged legislative session on Thursday, lawmakers voted by more than the required two-thirds majority to override Lula’s veto. The final vote has opened the door for the sentencing reduction to go into effect, though legal analysts note the law still faces potential challenges in the Supreme Court.
Immediately after the veto was defeated, jubilant opposition lawmakers broke into chants of “freedom” and shouted the name of Flavio Bolsonaro, the former president’s eldest son and a sitting Brazilian senator, who is running to claim his father’s old office in this year’s presidential election. The override fell on Flavio Bolsonaro’s 45th birthday, and he took to social media platform X to praise the legislative outcome, calling it “a very special birthday present” from fellow deputies and senators.
The defeat of Lula’s veto comes just one day after another humiliating loss for the president: the Senate rejected his chosen nominee for a vacant Supreme Court seat, Jorge Messias. The rejection marked the first time in decades that a sitting Brazilian president’s Supreme Court nominee has been turned down by the Senate, a clear sign of eroding government power in the conservative-led legislature. Current polling shows Flavio Bolsonaro tied with Lula, who is campaigning for a fourth presidential term, making this string of legislative wins a critical boost for the opposition ahead of the election.