sl0n2yw7ufqq.png "Lula and Bolsonaro")
Lula and Bolsonaro
Photo: Portal
The candidates Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and Jair Bolsonaro (PL) are running second round from presidential elections on Sunday October 30th. With 96.93% of polls counted, the PT had 47.85% versus 43.70% for the President.
The poll results confirmed the trend that election polls have shown since the beginning of the presidential election. The PT has consistently appeared at the top of the popularity charts in all polls, followed by the current CEO.
During the election campaign, some polls even pointed to a possible Lula in the 1st round, but Bolsonaro managed to win votes in the final sprint and carry the decision into the 2nd round.
Follow the results of the first ballot in real time.
The race for the presidency was marked by violent incidents due to the polarization between supporters of Lula and Bolsonaro. From the assassination of a Lula supporter in Foz do Iguaçu (PR) in July to the stabbing death of a PT voter inside Mato Grosso during the holiday on September 7, cases of politically motivated attacks and deaths rose across the country.
Lula’s campaign
In the 2018 election, Lula was barred by the electoral justice system from running in the presidential election under the Clean Record Law. At the time, he was being held at Federal Police Headquarters in Curitiba, Paraná, where he was serving convictions related to Operation Lava Jato.
In November 2019, PT was released after 580 days in prison following an STF decision prohibiting arrests in the 2nd instance. Subsequently, also by order of the court, the judgments related to Lava Jato were overturned.
Despite fierce opposition to Jair Bolsonaro’s government, shortly after his release from prison, when he had not yet regained his political rights, Lula avoided reaffirming his intention to run for the Palácio do Planalto. Only in the first half of this year has the PT publicly positioned itself on a desire to attempt a third term as president.
“If I’m in the best position to win the presidential election and I’m in good health, yes, I won’t hesitate. I think I was a good president,” he said in an interview with the French publication Paris Match.in May.
At the start of his preliminary candidacy on May 7, Lula Jair sharply criticized Bolsonaro, celebrated the ticket with Geraldo Alckmin (PSB) a former political opponent for democracy and spoke of restoring the sovereignty of Brazil and the Brazilian people.
Throughout the campaign, PT criticized the current federal government and said that the Brazilian people are happier in his tenure. He defended the partnership with Alckmin, saying that they had never been enemies but political opponents and would now defend democracy together.
Bolsonaro campaign
Jair Bolsonaro was seeking reelection and made his candidacy for reelection official on July 24. The announcement was made at a PL event at the Maracanãzinho High School in Rio de Janeiro, where the party congress was held to officially launch the election campaign. Reserve General Walter Braga Netto’s name was also sealed on the ticket as a running mate.
The September 7th celebrations were a contentious point in the election campaign. On the occasion, the President used the date for the election platform. He took part in the civilmilitary parade, gave a speech in Brasília leading the chorus of the “imbrochable” and was also present at the edge of Copacabana in Rio, where he also spoke over an electric trio.
Both Lula and Bolsonaro have also been featured in presidential debates, such as those hosted by Band and TV Globo. But held in the debate EarthSBT, CNN, ‘Estadão’/Rádio Eldorado, Veja and Rádio Nova Brasil FM, Lula was not present and his absence became an issue among the contestants.
Lula focused on a campaign of heavy street presence and platform speaking, and declined some invitations to interviews and hearings. In addition to events with allies, Bolsonaro has had a more intense media presence, participating in podcasts and television programs.
Lula’s trajectory
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was born on October 27, 1945 in Garanhuns, Pernambuco, and immigrated as a child to São Paulo, a city where he worked as a metallurgist and thus developed a leadership role as a trade unionist. During the period of military dictatorship (19641985) he organized and participated in several strikes in the ABC Paulista category after being arrested for them and in the 1980s he helped found the Labor Party (PT).
Lula was also known as one of the faces of the Diretas Já movement, which called for a direct vote to elect Brazil’s president. During this time, he began his career in politics when he was elected federal deputy for Sao Paulo in 1986. Years later, in 1989, Lula ran for President of the Republic in his first election after losing to Fernando Collor in the second ballot of Mello. The PT even tried to be elected president twice: in 1994 and 1998, both times losing the election to Fernando Henrique Cardoso.
In 2002, Lula was elected President of Brazil, defeating José Serra in the second round of that year’s elections. The Lula government was emblematic of social programs like Bolsa Família and Fome Zero, and surfing the wave of commodities which benefited Brazil’s economy at the time was considered one of the country’s most popular presidents.
By the end of his first term, his government was tainted by the corruption scheme known as the Mensalão, a votebuying scandal that almost toppled him from power. Despite this, Lula was reelected in 2006, winning in the second round against Geraldo Alckmin now his vice president.
With the end of his two terms, Lula nevertheless managed to leave command of the country with his successor Dilma Rousseff, who was also facing corruption scandals the socalled Petrolão. Dilma was reelected in 2014, defeating Aécio Neves in the elections, but was impeached in 2016, leaving executive power to her deputy, Michel Temer.
The Petrolão scandal also had consequences for Lula outside of the presidency. The PT was sentenced to nine years and six months in prison for corruption and money laundering by Judge Sergio Moro, then head of the Lava Jato investigation in Paraná. The verdict was upheld at court and Lula surrendered to authorities in 2018 and was not released until the following year. Because of the arrest, Lula is barred from running as a presidential candidate in the 2018 election won by Jair Bolsonaro. In 2021, PT regained its political rights following a decision by the STF that found Moro had a partial hand in carrying out Lula’s sentence and overturned the convictions in that trial.
Bolsonaro’s trajectory
Born in Glicério, in the interior of São Paulo, Jair Messias Bolsonaro began his military career in Rio de Janeiro, where he graduated from the Academia Militar das Agulhas Negras in 1977. He wrote an article for Veja magazine criticizing the salary of the category . According to the text, he was arrested. After his transfer to the reserve, Jair began his political life when he was elected to the Rio de Janeiro City Council in 1986.
From there, Bolsonaro began a series of terms in the Brasília Chamber of Deputies, his first election taking place in 1990. He spent 27 years as a member of parliament and, despite his minor importance, made controversial statements against women, homosexuals and in favor of the military dictatorship.
During the PT governments, Jair Bolsonaro rose to prominence by staunchly opposing the government and was viewed as an antiPT figure. With this image he launched his candidacy for the presidency of the Republic of PSL in 2018. He won the election after a secondround dispute against Fernando Haddad (PT).
Over the course of his tenure, Bolsonaro has replaced several ministers, strengthened ties with the armed forces, strengthened ties with countries with rightwing governments, relaxed environmental protection laws, invested in proweapons decrees and was the target of a CPI on his performance during Covid19 Pandemic in Brazil.
+Free the best content in your email. Choose your favorite Terra newsletter. Click here!