Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been accused by the police of dissuading the preventative use of masks during the pandemic and maliciously propagating that vaccination against COVID-19 makes people at risk of contracting AIDS.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has been asked by police, in an ongoing investigation into the accusations, to charge Bolsonaro on account of discouraging compliance with health measures against COVID-19, which amounts to a crime, in addition to the misdemeanor of attempting to link AIDS with the vaccination. Judge De Moraes has been put in control of the developing probe. 

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The extreme right-wing President disseminated false information without evidence, claiming that individuals fully vaccinated against COVID-19 had developed AIDS in the UK, which later led to his temporary suspension from both Facebook and YouTube after the comments.

Potential loss of candidacy 

Bolsonaro is currently running against former president Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva for a second presidential term and is behind by 16 points. In a poll conducted in July by IPEC, it was concluded that 57% of Brazilians disapprove of the way Bolsonaro manages the country, especially concerning his adoption of extremist views against women, Afro-Brazilians, and the left.

This open case against Bolsonaro may not only lead to his indictment but may eventually lead to his loss in the presidential race to Lula da Silva, especially with having a history of political violence and aggressive mobilization of the public to take to the streets and social media. 

Read more: Bolsonaro may have had a hand in indigenous leader, journalist murders