Brazil’s Federal Police have indicted former President Jair Bolsonaro and 36 other people on charges of attempting a coup to keep him in office after his electoral defeat in the 2022 elections.

In recommending charges against the former president, police say Latin America’s largest country came close to suffering a coup following the 2022 election.

The former right-wing Brazilian president is accused of attempting to use the military to keep himself in power

Former President Jair Bolsonaro could face criminal charges over accusations that he was involved in plans to stage a coup after losing the 2022 elections.

Brazilian authorities have indicted the country’s former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro alongside 36 other individuals as part of the investigation into a coup plot to keep him in power following the election of his successor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Already barred from running again in 2026 over a different case, the former President could now land in jail and see his influence further diminished.

The right-wing former president “is already barred from running in the 2026 elections,” observes political scientist at Insper University in São Paulo.