Bolsonaro turns to centre-right senator amid drop in popularity

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is facing mounting pressure to account for COVID crisis and corruption allegations.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, whose popularity has plummeted amid the country’s continuing COVID-19 crisis and recent corruption allegations, has named a senator from the largest bloc in Congress as his new chief of staff. Senator Ciro Nogueira, a leader of the centre-right Progressives Party (PP), tweeted on Tuesday that he accepted the job and is expected to be sworn in this week as Bolsonaro’s closest minister, replacing a retired general. “I have just accepted the honourable invitation from President Jair Bolsonaro to take over the Civil House,” Nogueira said on Twitter during a meeting with the president in Brasilia.