Brazil Presidential Frontrunner Bolsonaro: 'admirer' Of Trump

Rio de Janeiro, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Oct, 2018 ) :Brazil's frontrunner for the presidency, Jair Bolsonaro, on Thursday declared "I am an admirer of Trump" and rejected being labeled an extreme-right candidate because of his rhetoric blasting crime, current migration policies and past views favoring torture.

Speaking during his first news conference since securing 46 percent of the vote in a first round election last Sunday -- trailed by leftist Fernando Haddad, who took 29 percent -- Bolsonaro said: "I'm not far-right. Point out to me an act of mine that is far-right." He added, echoing a theme of US President Donald Trump, "When I spoke of the migration question, it's because we can't have a country with open borders." Bolsonaro, a 63-year-old populist and seven-term congressman who was once a paratrooper, declared: "I'm an admirer of President Trump.

He wants a great United States -- I want a great Brazil." His comments came as he and Haddad campaigned ahead of an October 28 run-off that polls suggest Bolsonaro should easily win.

But the race is one of the most polarized in memory in Brazil.

Bolsonaro's detractors highlight his contentious past comments demeaning women and gay people, and talking nostalgically of Brazil's 1964-1985 military dictatorship.

Haddad, 55, on the other hand, is despised by a large chunk of Brazil's 147 million voters for belonging to the Workers' Party, which is seen as corrupt and was in power for 13 years to 2016, during which the country experienced a boom then a devastating bust.