BRASÍLIA—Jair Bolsonaro was sworn in Tuesday as Brazil’s first right-wing president elected since the end of military rule three decades ago, vowing to restore order to a country hobbled by crime, corruption and a deepening fiscal crisis.
The fiery ex-army captain, who is recovering from a near-fatal stabbing during the election campaign, rode in an open-top Rolls-Royce under heavy security to Congress, where he formally took office in a ceremony boycotted by swaths of left-wing politicians.
Mr. Bolsonaro, 63 years old, stunned Brazil’s political establishment in October by clinching 55% of the vote, defeating the leftist Workers’ Party and centrist PSDB party that have won every other presidential election in the country since 1994.
Thousands of Mr. Bolsonaro’s supporters came out to celebrate in the capital Brasília Tuesday, praising their new paratrooper-turned-president, who many see as a much-needed break from the country’s corrupt and neglectful political class.
“We plan to change the destiny of Brazil,” Mr. Bolsonaro said in a short video posted to Twitter on Tuesday just before his inauguration, giving thanks to God for still being alive and to his supporters.
With a mix of market-friendly economic policies and social conservatism at home, Mr. Bolsonaro plans to align Brazil more closely with developed nations and particularly the U.S., shifting South America further to the right after decades of mostly leftist rule.
As Mr. Bolsonaro was sworn in Tuesday, the country’s leftist icon, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was in prison serving a 12-year-sentence for corruption in southern Brazil.
“Bolsonaro is different from the rest,” said José Villas, 42, owner of a car workshop who flew in from northeastern Brazil for the inauguration with an inflatable doll of Mr. da Silva in prison garb. “Bolsonaro hardly spent anything on his campaign, it was the people that got him where he is.”
Lambasting mainstream media for what he says is “fake news,” Mr. Bolsonaro of the once tiny PSL party, has largely only communicated with voters via Twitter and live streaming on Facebook since the assassination attempt against him in September.
About three quarters of Brazilians believe Mr. Bolsonaro is “on the right track,” according to a poll by Brazil’s main industry lobby, CNI, last month, but he has also evoked deep hatred and fear among the opposition.
During his 27 years as a congressmen for various parties on the fringe of national politics, Mr. Bolsonaro was largely only known for offending gay people and women, and waxing nostalgic about the 1964-85 dictatorship he once served. Several of his ministers come from Brazil’s armed forces.
On Saturday, his son and communications adviser Carlos Bolsonaro posted a video compilation of his father’s most bellicose moments with the caption “cry you lefties.” It shows Brazil’s new president cursing “human rights” and firing rocket launchers, with montages of him riding tanks and a dinosaur, rifle in hand in front of the national flag.
In his October acceptance speech and a ceremony at the electoral court last month, Mr. Bolsonaro has adopted a more moderate tone, vowing to respect the constitution as the “guiding star” of democracy, and promising to govern for all.
Now in power, Mr. Bolsonaro will face a race against time, political scientists say, to deliver on two central promises: fixing the economy and improving public security.
With the help of his University of Chicago-trained economy minister Paulo Guedes, Mr. Bolsonaro has vowed a series of reforms and privatization to slash public debt, which analysts say is dangerously high for a developing nation at about 77% of GDP.
Pension reform—shrinking costly benefits that allow many Brazilians to retire in their 50s—is the priority, economists say.
Those promises won Mr. Bolsonaro the backing of investors and business leaders in the election, helping to turn him from a political sideshow into the election’s front-runner and eventual winner. Now under intense pressure to repay the favor, he may use parts of an existing bill to push pension reform through congress before the middle of this year, said Rafael Cortez, a political scientist at the São Paulo-based consulting firm Tendências.
Mr. Bolsonaro has refused to negotiate with party leaders by swapping ministerial posts and government jobs for congressional support, delighting corruption-weary voters who are sick of backroom political deal making. Instead, he is expected to appeal to thematic blocs in Congress, such as the vast number of evangelical Christians, or those allied to agribusiness and large landowners.
It is an untested strategy for a president in Brazil’s fractious congress and the biggest risk to the new government, said Leonardo Fonseca, chief economist of Credit Suisse bank in Brazil. “Negotiating with parties instead would have given him more control over votes because parties can punish members who vote differently to the party line,” said Mr. Fonseca.
High on Mr. Bolsonaro’s list of priorities is also making ordinary Brazilians feel safer in what is now the most murderous country in the world, with nearly 64,000 homicides in 2017. Polls showed crime was voters’ top concern heading into the election, and Mr. Bolsonaro has vowed to “fight violence with violence.” He plans to make it easier for police to shoot criminals dead, and loosen Brazil’s gun laws so civilians can do the same.
His Justice Minister Sergio Moro, who led Brazil’s vast Car Wash corruption investigation, has also promised to crack down on organized crime by digging into the money laundering activities of drug gangs in the same way he exposed politicians and businesspeople at the heart of the graft scandal.
Mr. Bolsonaro’s strategy on public security has drawn harsh criticism from human rights groups as well as firearms experts, who say that putting more guns into circulation will only increase crime rates.
He has also sparked controversy over his plans to ease environmental controls in favor of agribusiness, as well as his statements on foreign policy. Mr. Bolsonaro met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, and has promised to move Brazil’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Business leaders in Brazil’s powerful beef industry have protested the proposed move that they fear would hurt sales in key Arab markets.
Political scientists said Mr. Bolsonaro will need to keep voters on his side to remain in power in the country, where mass street protests have led to the impeachment of two of the previous six presidents.
“We have put so much hope in Bolsonaro,” said Daniella Soares, 27, who wants Mr. Bolsonaro to introduce the death penalty and follow through on a promise to chemically castrate sex offenders. “But if he’s bad, we’ll just get rid of him.”
Write to Samantha Pearson at samantha.pearson@wsj.com and Paulo Trevisani at paulo.trevisani@wsj.com
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