By Anthony Boadle and Ricardo Brito
BRASILIA (Reuters) – The leader of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro’s political party said on Wednesday that any member identified in videos taking part in the ransacking of government buildings on Sunday would be immediately expelled from the party.
Valdemar Costa Neto, president of the right-wing Liberal Party, said his party, the largest in Brazil’s Congress, condemned the rampage on Sunday in which Bolsonaro supporters vandalized the Supreme Court, Congress and presidential palace.
“If members of the party are seen on videos smashing up those government buildings, we will expel them right away,” he said in an interview, adding that the vandalism was caused by an extremist minority that did not represent his party.
Bolsonaro, an anti-establishment populist who joined the party to have a electoral vehicle for last year’s election, has yet to concede defeat to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. He has not publicly condemned supporters who protested his loss and called for a military coup to restore him to power.
Costa Neto’s party has sought to distance itself from the violence as it seeks to lead the opposition to Lula. The party became the largest in both chambers of Congress thanks to Bolsonaro’s popularity, though the far-right leader himself narrowly lost his bid for re-election.
Lula’s 11-day-old government braced on Wednesday for fresh demonstrations to “retake power” called by Bolsonaro supporters.
Bolsonaro, who left Brazil for Florida 48 hours before his term ended, said on social media that he would return to Brazil earlier than planned for medical reasons.
Costa Neto told Reuters he hopes Bolsonaro will return to Brazil soon to lead Brazil’s political right into local elections in 2024 and become its presidential candidate in 2026.
Party officials said Bolsonaro’s absence from the country was squandering the political capital that he gained in the election, in which 58 million Brazilians voted for him.
While the PL party has recognized the election result, Bolsonaro has suggested without any evidence that the election was stolen by manipulating Brazil’s electronic voting system.
Costa Neto said Bolsonaro’s charisma will help the party grow further in municipal elections next year when he expects the PL to increase the number of affiliated mayors from 352 at present to at least 1,500.
“All he needs to do is appear and he draws crowds,” said Costa Neto, whose party is flush with 1.2 billion reais ($232 million) from a public election fund, based on the number of seats it won in the lower chamber of Congress.
Bolsonaro, whose nationalist populism sharply polarized Brazil’s electorate during his four-year term, has been named honorary president of the PL. He and his wife Michelle Bolsonaro will have offices at party headquarters with paid salaries.
(Reporting by Anthony Boadle and Ricardo Brito; Editing by Brad Haynes and Deepa Babington)
