BRASILIA, Reuters – This year’s Brazilian general elections will prove to be a challenge for democracy because of threats from President Jair Bolsonaro (far-right), who has questioned validity of the voting system. Human Rights Watch stated on Thursday that.

The Washington-based group issued an annual report about rights violations around the globe. It urged Brazil’s Supreme Court, Congress, and all other democratic institutions in Brazil to be vigilant and resist Bolsonaro’s attempts to subvert the October election.

Maria Laura Canineu (director of Human Rights Watch in Brazil) stated that Bolsonaro had tried to weaken democracy’s pillars by attacking the judiciary as well as making baseless accusations of electoral fraud.

According to the report, his government supported policies that were contrary to human rights in many areas such as indigenous peoples’ and women’s rights.

Bolsonaro promoted legislation to strip many indigenous peoples of their traditional lands, and in reality, has legalized the illegal mining within those territories.

According to Human Rights Watch, the Amazon’s deforestation rate has risen dramatically since 2006.

A request by the president’s office for comments on the rights report was not answered. Bolsonaro intends to run for re-election this October but hasn’t officially declared his candidacy.

HRW stated that Bolsonaro continued spreading false information regarding COVID-19 vaccinations, after an inquiry by the Senate found that his government had violated science-based measures to control the virus. Also, he promoted drugs without any proven effectiveness.

Bolsonaro encouraged violence against police and supported a bill to make it easier for police officers to be held accountable.

In Brazil, police murders reached their highest level in 2020. The indicator was first used to monitor the situation.

The government of his country has launched criminal investigations into political critics using the National Security Law 1964-1985 of the military dictatorship, it stated.