Brazil risks its future between two completely opposite models

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The latest polls have favored Lula, who had a televised debate with Bolsonaro full of insults from both

The polls this Sunday will confirm whether the latest polls were right in considering that PT (Workers’ Party) leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (77 years old), the favorite, with 53%, to hold the elections for the Brazilian presidency. With their vote, the country’s citizens will also recognize the remarks they made to the former president who won the last debate he had with Jair Bolsonaro (67), who aspires to re-election and leads the PL (Liberal Party). . These are crucial elections for the future of a country that will have to choose between two completely opposing models: between Bolsonaro’s far-right continuity or the return of the left-wing Lula to a head of state he already held between 2003 and 2010.

The second round of the elections will take place this Sunday in a climate of total uncertainty and after an endless campaign in which the two candidates stood out more for their intentions to wash dirty clothes, and for personal accusations of corruption, than for showcasing new projects. and ideas that lead Brazil to a better future. In the first round, Lula won more than 55 million votes (48.4%) compared to Bolsonaro’s 50 million (43.2%), with a 20.8% abstention (32 million people).

“The biggest fear of the current president’s campaign is building a discourse for stronger action if he is defeated,” said Curitiba lawyer and human rights professor Juliana Bertholdi. “At the moment it is not possible to understand which way Bolsonaro will choose in case of defeat: whether he will limit himself to continuing to question the electoral process and its legitimacy, whether he will seek explanations from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal or if he will gather his armed minions, which would be the worst way, the most feared, but also the most unlikely,” adds Bertholdi.

However, in statements made after Friday night’s televised debate, Bolsonaro promised to respect the outcome of the election, even if he is not the winner. “There is not the slightest doubt. The one with the most votes wins. That’s democracy,” he said. However, during his campaign, Bolsonaro had said several times that he would only accept the result if he considered the election fair. Suspicions of his rejection of the result in the event of a defeat resurfaced this week. when his allies called for an investigation on the grounds that some radio stations in the northeast of the country were not running their ads and were in favor of Lula.During Friday’s face-to-face meeting hosted by the television channel O’Globo, Bolsonaro felt feels like a victim: “The whole system is against me. The big television channels, one here (referring to whoever offered the debate) and even the Supreme Electoral Tribunal that wants to investigate me ».

The impression created by the debate is that Lula was firmer than on previous occasions and took another win on points. Expectations were centered on a Bolsonaro being forced to go on the offensive to at least match Lula in the polls. But what all analysts agreed on is that the latest debate left a lot to be desired.

In Bolsonaro’s speech, insult predominated. While in previous debates he always addressed Lula as a “prisoner”, the term he most commonly used on this occasion was “liar”. When exchanging insults, both candidates used all offensive adjectives, from “corrupt” to “crook”, through “criminal”, “thief” and even the head of a criminal gang. It was not the debate that was expected and Lula was right when he apologized for the lack of arguments and the quality of the meeting.

The current president of Brazil’s tactic was to ask his rival many questions. He did it so many times that at one point Lula replied, “I didn’t come to answer questions from Bolsonaro. I came to talk to the Brazilian people.”

The candidates remembered the achievements achieved during their tenure and did not give up on their mismanagement, although they did raise some inconvenient issues such as gender ideology and the legalization of drugs, clear allegations of Bolsonaro to Lula, yes, instead he replied to the charge that he favored abortion, which he flatly denied. The president attacked his opponent’s previous mandates, saying his administration had inherited serious ethical, moral and economic problems from them.

Both returned to themes of poverty and health, with Lula feeling very comfortable remembering that during his reigns the country grew and inequality was reduced, while Bolsonaro failed miserably during the pandemic. “One day you will pay for the preventable deaths of more than 300,000 people – out of a total of 680,000 who died – “for not giving the vaccines at the right time,” Lula snapped at his opponent.

With this background scenario, one of the most densely populated countries in the world, with more than 215 million inhabitants, with the highest unemployment rate in the region (13.2%) and one of the largest external debts (93% of GDP), Brazil stands this Sunday before memorable elections. And also sensitive because of the fears raised by his current president, closer to the line of Donald Trump, who does not want to discuss drug legalization, who does not accept gender ideology and who is convinced that his opponent today, Lula, represents the dark side, while he, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, is the good side of life.

Source: La Verdad

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