Elected in as a member of the conservative Social Liberal Party before cutting ties with them, he has been in office since 1 January From to he served in Brazil's Chamber of Deputies , representing the state of Rio de Janeiro. He graduated from the Agulhas Negras Military Academy in and served in the Brazilian Army's field artillery and parachutist units.
He became known to the public in , when he wrote an article for Veja magazine criticizing low wages for military officers, after which he was arrested and detained for 15 days. A year later, the same magazine accused him of planning to plant bombs in military units, which he denied. After being convicted by a lower court, the Brazilian Supreme Military Court acquitted him in In Bolsonaro was elected to the lower chamber of Congress and he was reelected six times.
During his year tenure as a congressman, he became known for his strong support of national conservatism. He is a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage and homosexuality , [3] [4] abortion , [5] affirmative action , [6] drug liberalization [7] and secularism.
Bolsonaro announced his candidacy for president in March as a member of the Social Christian Party. He portrayed himself as an outsider and a supporter of family values. He came in first place in the first round of the general election on 7 October , with Workers' Party candidate Fernando Haddad coming in second. The two candidates had a runoff on 28 October , and Bolsonaro was elected with Bolsonaro placed many army officers in key positions in his cabinet.
Before his inauguration, Bolsonaro said he would fill positions in his government based only on technical qualifications and skills rather than ideological sympathy. During his presidency, many appointees clashed ideologically with the government. His minister of Justice , Education , the Secretary of Government , the head of the postal service and other government officials fell out of favor with Bolsonaro and resigned.
