by Sara Gandolfi, sent to San Paolo
Open ballot boxes, long queues in European capitals. The accusation: The government reduced the seats to prevent the vote. The former left-wing president is considered the absolute favorite. The latest polls are at 50 and 51%
Offices opened in Brazil. Over 156 million Brazilians elect the new president and his deputy, all 513 members of the Chamber of Deputies, a third of the senators, governors and deputies of the 27 states. There are a total of 29.2 million candidates to choose from. The up-and-coming presidents are six, but the challenge is now narrowed down to the two big protagonists-opponents of Brazilian politics: current President Jair Bolsonaro of the right-wing Liberal Party (in office since 2019) and former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (of 2003-2010), candidate of a broad coalition led by the left-wing Workers’ Party (PT). Recent polls give Lula a clear advantage, with the possibility of winning the first round by 50% plus one of the valid votes and avoiding the Oct. 30 runoff. Datafolha gave Lula 50% against Bolsonaro’s 36% on Saturday night, Ipec assigned 51% with 37 to the leader of the PT.
Lula voted early this morning at a polling station in a school in São Paulo, accompanied by his now-separable wife “Janja”, his deputy, the moderate Geraldo Alckmin (his former political opponent) and the candidate for governor of St. Paul. He told the press that “the most fanatical Bolsonarian has to adapt to the majority of society,” and when asked how he planned to pacify the country, he said that the majority of society didn’t want confrontation, they wanted peace and that “they do it will be easy to restore democracy and peace to this country.” “Those who don’t want that, who don’t respect the law…that’s going to be their problem,” Lula concluded. He said at a meeting with on Saturday night told the press that one of his priorities would be to get Brazil out of international isolation, but indirectly confirmed that there would be no explicit condemnation of Russia for invading Ukraine: “Our policy is not a policy of neutrality, but of peace » .
Current President Jair Bolsonaro voted in Rio de Janeiro instead, but will await the results in Brasilia. Bolsonaro posed for photographers in Brazil’s football shirt and told reporters that “a clean election must be respected”. When asked if he would respect the results, he gave a thumbs-up and walked away.
Meanwhile, controversy broke out in Europe. In many capitals, from Lisbon to Paris, long queues have formed in front of polling stations. And the left accuses: The government has reduced seats abroad to prevent votes.
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October 2, 2022 (change October 2, 2022 | 17:06)
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