Jair Bolsonaro was sworn in as President of the Republic on 1 January 2019, succeeding Michel Temer. Bolsonaro began his cabinet formation before winning the presidency, having chosen economist Paulo Guedes as his Economy minister and astronaut Marcos Pontes as his Science and Technology minister. Bolsonaro initially said his cabinet would be composed of 15 members; this figure later rose to 22 when he announced his final minister, Ricardo Salles, in December. His predecessor, Michel Temer, had a cabinet of 29 members.