Readers Name Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro Time Magazine's Person of the Year

Public support for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has dropped over his entanglement in multiple investigations. Additionally, Bolsonaro has been repeatedly criticised by both Brazilian politicians and the international community for his approach to combating the coronavirus pandemic.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro took first place in TIME’s 2021 Person of the Year reader poll, where he received 24% of the readers' votes.

The voting results were published on 8 December on the newspaper's website.

9 million readers took part in the voting. Of these, 24% recognised Brazilian President Bolsonaro as the person who had the greatest influence on events in 2021.

Former US President Donald Trump came in second place in the reader poll, with 9% of votes.

In third place in the ranking of the most influential people or organisations this year were doctors fighting the COVID-19, with 6.3% of survey participants voting for them.

In 2019 and 2020, Bolsonaro was listed by Time among the most influential people in the world.

Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly come under fire from both Brazilian politicians and the international community for his approach to the coronavirus pandemic.

Time's online poll results usually don't match editorial choices. In 2020, Time's readers prioritised vital service workers, and editors favoured then-President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. This year, the magazine will announce the person of the year on 13th December.

Time magazine's tradition of naming a particularly influential person began in 1927. The title “Man of the Year” was later changed to “Person of the Year”, given to an individual, group, movement, or idea that had the greatest influence on the last year.