Jair Bolsonaro, a Brazilian politician won the first round of Brazil’s elections on Sunday by a margin of 17 percentage points but fell short of the 50% of valid votes needed to win outright. He will face the left-wing Workers' Party candidate, Fernando Haddad, in the second round on October 28.

Bolsonaro, is a former army captain who's served as a congressman for over 20 years, but has a long history of courting controversy and has been a deeply divisive figure in Brazilian politics.

He is a member of the Social Liberal Party and has often been dubbed the "Brazilian Donald Trump” or the “Trump of the tropics.” Apart from the fact, that he has openly admitted to Bolsonaro to being an admirer of Donald Trump.

Homophobia

Bolsonaro has been called “an incendiary politician” who is unabashedly misogynistic and homophobic.

In 2011, Jair Bolsonaro told Playboy magazine he would "be incapable of loving a homosexual son." "I won’t be a hypocrite: I prefer a son to die in an accident than show up with a mustachioed guy. He’d be dead to me anyway," Bolsonaro said.

Racist

Bolsonaro once described Afro-Brazilians or their descendants as lazy and fat, and he has called refugees from Haiti, Africa, and the Middle East as the "scum of humanity." He has also reportedly referred to black activists as “animals” who should “go back to the zoo”.

Misogynist 

Jair Bolsonaro once told a female colleague in the Brazilian legislature that "She doesn’t deserve to be raped, because she’s very ugly," Bolsonaro said at the time. "She’s not my type. I would never rape her. I’m not a rapist, but if I were, I wouldn’t rape her because she doesn’t deserve it." He is also strongly anti-abortion.

Trumpian Talk and Policies

Bolsonaro’s plan for economic recovery in Brazil is reportedly vague and less clear. His speeches, like Trump’s, are often rambling, fact-light assaults on logic that appear nonsensical when an attempt is made for it to be translated.

Much like Trump, Bolsonaro has painted a picture of Brazil as a nation in decline. He has pledged to make Brazil the largest and most powerful country in South America "great" again by ridding its politics of corruption. And the 28th of October will show whether the trend of the “strongman” politician has reached South America.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 09, 2018 08:51 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).