Lula hopes to win this Sunday as Bolsonaro once again raises doubts about the process
There is very little left for Brazil to elect a president this Sunday. The candidates, Lula da Silva (who turned 77 last Thursday) and Jair Bolsonaro (67), raced this Friday night to win the vote of the undecided voters in the latest televised debate. The dream of many citizens is nothing more than to end one of the most intense, harsh and non-violent campaigns the country has witnessed in its democratic history. However, the reality indicates that the stability of the largest nation in Latin America will take some time.
No one dares to say whether the current president, Jair Bolsonaro (Liberal Party), will know how to accept a possible defeat when part of his campaign is based on discrediting the electoral process. It is also difficult to predict what will happen to the Lula da Silva (Workers’ Party) electorate, many of whom rely on it to lift themselves out of poverty and another to restore Brazil’s progress. This Sunday is the final of a match that has further wearied and divided the Brazilian people.
In an eight-page letter addressed to tomorrow’s Brazil, Lula spoke again this Friday about restoring hope to his people. He said the country needs a government that takes care of “our people, especially those who need it most”. He added that Brazil “needs peace, democracy and dialogue”. In the document, the leader of the left promises the rescue of 33 million people from hunger and 300 million from poverty.
It also provides social development where it will impose a strong minimum wage, with an annual growth rate above inflation, and a new child benefit of about 600 reais (almost 113 euros) plus 28 euros extra for each child up to 6 years old. The former president confirms that he will implement tax reform, that those who receive a salary of 5,000 reais (EUR 941) will not have to pay taxes and that men and women who hold the same position will be compensated.
While Lula sent that message, Jair Bolsonaro continued his campaign to discredit the electoral process. On this occasion, allies of the candidate for re-election submitted an audit to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) denouncing that about 154,000 radio ads had not been published, which they interpreted as an imbalance in the campaign in favor of Lula. These constant interrogations have raised suspicions not only among Lula supporters that Bolsonaro is preparing the grounds to challenge the election, but also TSE chairman Alexandre Moraes. The court declined to investigate these alleged irregularities last Wednesday, saying they could constitute an “election crime”. “There is no doubt that the authors point to an alleged electoral fraud without a credible documentary basis,” said the TSE chairman, finishing by noting that the accusation could create distortions in the days leading up to the vote.
According to Lula’s advisers, the Bolsonaro campaign is the main source of ‘fake news’. Aiming to protect the integrity of the country’s democratic institution and citizens’ right to freedom of expression, Moraes also empowers tech companies to remove content from the Internet to prevent the spread of hoaxes ahead of this Sunday’s vote. .
Lula and Bolsonaro have developed a campaign that, in the opinion of many analysts, is poor in new ideas and proposals for the country. The former president, who ruled between 2003 and 2010, has based his speech on the past, on what he achieved for this country during his administration, and that was a lot, from balancing a country mired in inequalities to achieving any economic stability. It all happened, of course, before the pandemic, the other strong point Lula used to attack Bolsonaro, who he accuses of being guilty of the deaths of more than 800,000 Brazilians for his mismanagement at the start of the health crisis.
Bolsonaro lost the first round of the October 2 election. Lula won 48.4% of the vote for 43.2% of the president. The polls, which were not as accurate in their first-round predictions, continue to announce a win for Lula. The margin is very narrow, 49% to 45% of President Bolsonaro. They speak of 5% white and zero votes, while placing the undecided at 2%. At the same time, they say that 50% of those polled are confident they will not vote for the Liberal Party candidate. And 45% assure they won’t do it for Lula.
For this second round, Bolsonaro has had the support of key Brazilian footballers such as Neymar, Dani Alves and Rivaldo, public decisions that have provoked contradictory reactions from Lula’s most active supporters on social networks, where they have expressed a desire to see the team fail at the World Cup.
Source: La Verdad
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