Brazil’s presidential race, which has been polarizing will be decided in an election run-off in the second round since no candidate was able to secure an overwhelming majority of more than 50% of the vote in a vote which saw long lines at polling booths while millions were able to cast their ballots.
With over 90% of the votes counted on Sunday night, the results released from Brazil’s Electoral Superior Court (TSE) revealed that left-wing incumbent and ex-president Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva held an edge over the incumbent right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro – but not enough to get close to winning.
The most recent official count puts Lula ahead of Bolsonaro, with 48.4 percent of the vote, compared to 43.2 percent for Bolsonaro the polarizing result often described as”the “Trump of the Tropics.”
Bolsonaro’s performance was eight points more than what the most recent Datafolha poll that day. Lula’s results were about two-to-three points lower than the predictions of polls.
Lula said to journalists on the streets of Sao Paulo Sunday night that Lula was certain of winning the run-off election to take place on October 30.
“It will be important (to have a second round) because we will have the chance to do a face-to-face debate with the current president to know if he will keep on telling lies,” Lula said. Lula was Brazil’s president from 2002 until 2010.
In a brief press event on Sunday, Bolsonaro said the voting showed the dire economic situation experienced by those who are less wealthy Brazilians and pledged to reach out to those who are concerned about the rise in costs.
“We are going to have a second phase ahead in which everything will be identical, and the (television advertising) timing for both sides will be the same. We are now planning to make it clearer in the interest of people in the Brazilian population, particularly the class that is most affected and the result of the stay home and be watching the economy in the future policy.” Bolsonaro said.
Bolsonaro who has repeatedly dismissed Bolsonaro, who has repeatedly discredited the Brazilian election system, and has threatened to not accept the outcomes, has managed to win over Lula in the states of the southeast the largest of the country.
A staggering 123 million Brazilians were waiting in long lines for their turn to vote in the fourth largest democracy, while an additional 32 million stayed out. As per TSE the president, Alexandre de Moraes, the long lines resulted from the introduction of biometric security checks as well as a more than expected turnout of voters.
Many additional presidential contenders had been also in the race but were from the frontrunners.
Simone Tebet of the Brazilian Democratic Movement was third, with 4.1 percent of the valid votes Then Ciro Gomes from the Democratic Labour Party received 3.05 percent of the votes.
Gomes announced in a press conference on Sunday that he was “deeply concerned” about Brazil’s political division. “I have never seen a situation so complex, so challenging, so potentially threatening to our fortunes as a nation,” Gomes declared.
After he voted alongside Lula’s wife Rosangela da Silva in a Sao Paulo school on Sunday, Lula told reporters: “We do not want to see more division We want a nation which is peaceful. The most crucial election. I am extremely happy.”
He also mentioned the 2018 elections, in which the candidate was unable to participate – or even vote due to an indictment for corruption that was later quashed.
“Four years ago, I didn’t vote, because I was the victim of deceit that was perpetrated in our country. And now, four years later I’m in this place, in the process of voting in recognition of my freedom to vote and with the potential of becoming president of the republic of this nation and trying to restore this nation to normalcy,” Lula said
Lula against. Bolsonaro on the campaign trail
Although there was more than a dozen candidate on the ballot, however, the race was led from the beginning by Lula and Bolsonaro two giants of Brazilian politics, who were involved in a turbulent campaign with a series of savage verbal assaults as well as an array of violent clashes between supporters who were not in the same party.
Bolsonaro 67, is a candidate to re-elect himself under his conservative Liberal Party. Bolsonaro has campaigned to expand the mining industry, privatize government enterprises, and produce more sustainable energy in order to reduce energy prices. He has pledged to keep paying monthly R$600 (about one hundred dollars) monthly payment called Auxilio Brasil.
The government of President Obama is well-known as a champion of the brutal extraction of land in the Amazon that has resulted in records for deforestation. Environmentalists warn to beware that the survival of the Amazon could be in danger during this election.
Bolsonaro has also been widely criticized over his treatment of Covid-19. Over 686,000 individuals from Brazil have died due to the disease.
Lula, 76, has focused his campaign on the removal of Bolsonaro from office. Lula made reference to his accomplishments throughout his campaign.
He resigned with an approval rating of 91% in 2011 and is widely credited with saving many millions of Brazilians from extreme poverty via his “Bolsa Familia” welfare program.
The campaign promises a new tax system that allows the government to spend more. Lula has pledged to end the hunger crisis throughout the world, and this is a problem that has resurfaced under Bolsonaro’s presidency. Bolsonaro government. Lula is also pledging to take steps to cut carbon emissions and forest destruction throughout the Amazon.
Lula however, is no one to be averse to controversy. Lula was found guilty of financial fraud in the year 2017 in connection with the extensive “Operation Car Wash” investigation of the state-owned oil firm Petrobras. However, after less than two years in prison, the Supreme Court Justice annulled Lula’s conviction in March 2021, paving the possibility for Lula the chance to become president six times.
If they’re clear elections, there’s no problem’
Bolsonaro the man who’s been charged with inflaming supporters with a savage rant has attempted to instill doubts over the outcome and claimed that the outcome is suspicious if the candidate doesn’t win “at least 60%.”
The following day, the candidate reaffirmed his assertions that he was expecting to prevail in the initial election for president “with a margin higher than 60%,” despite being behind by 14 points according to the latest poll on that day.
Bolsonaro and his Liberal Party Bolsonaro as well as the Liberal Party have claimed that Brazil’s electronic voting system is vulnerable to fraud. It’s a false claim that has drawn similarity to the false claims made by former US president Donald Trump.
There are no documented instances of fraud in the electronic voting system in Brazil.
The Supreme Electoral Court has also denied claims of weaknesses within the system, calling them “false and untruthful, with no base in reality.”
