Brazil's Bolsonaro echoes Trump's election fraud claims

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro officially launched his re-election campaign this weekend by hinting at a possible showdown over unsubstantiated claims of potential election fraud.

Why it matters: Polls show Bolsonaro trailing leftist ex-President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ahead of the Oct. 2 election.

Driving the news: In a speech Sunday, Bolsonaro told his followers to "take to the streets” on Sept. 7 — Brazil’s independence day — “for the last time."

• Some political analysts took that as call for an attack on electoral authorities before the vote.

The big picture: Experts have been warning about Bolsonaro’s preemptive attacks on election integrity for months.

• He's claimed multiple times — without evidence — that the electronic voting system is ripe for tampering.
• The system has been in place since 1996 and used in over a dozen major elections, with no proven reports of fraud.
• Bolsonaro last week met with foreign diplomats, including a U.S. representative, to present alleged evidence of potential fraud. The State Department in a briefing after the meeting said the Brazilian electoral system is a model for the world.

The chief elections officer, Edson Fachin, has repeatedly warned of potential attacks akin to the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.

• One of Bolsonaro's sons, Flávio, a senator, said it could become "impossible to control" how the president's supporters react to October’s results.

• Last month, a Bolsonaro supporter allegedly fatally shot a local treasurer of Lula’s Workers’ Party.
• As Bolsonaro has ramped up his fraud claims this year, military officials have publicly cast doubt on elections.

Zoom out: While Latin American candidates in the past have claimed fraud after elections, Bolsonaro’s claims echo those of ex-President Trump. The two were friendly, and Bolsonaro was one of few world leaders to support Trump’s false fraud claims in the 2020 election.

Subscribe to Axios Latino to get news that matters about Latinos and Latin America, delivered to your inbox on Tuesdays and Thursdays.