Brazilians will return to the polls after the former president won the first vote but failed to achieve a majority over the current one
Brazil’s bitter presidential race will move to a runoff after former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva failed to secure the overall majority he needed to avoid a runoff with far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.
With more than 99. 5% of the votes counted, the veteran leftist had won 48. 3% of the vote, insufficient for the October 30 confrontation with his rival on the right. Bolsonaro, who far exceeded pollsters’ forecasts and will be supported through the result, was given 43. 3%.
Speaking to the media at a hotel in downtown São Paulo, Lula, who was president from 2003 to 2010, struck a provocative tone, saying, “The struggle continues until our final victory.
“We’re going to win those elections; for us, it’s just additional time,” promised Lula, who was barred from the 2018 election in which Bolsonaro was elected, on corruption charges that were later overturned.
Speaking on the eve of the election, Lula said he hoped for a victory in the first circular, but would redouble his efforts to regain strength if a circular moment was necessary.
“I’m hopeful that this election will be tomorrow, but if not, we’ll have to behave like a football team when a game goes on. We will rest for 15 minutes and then we will go back to the court to score. “We don’t score the passes in regulation time,” he told reporters.
Gleisi Hoffmann, president of Lula’s Workers’ Party, told reporters that the crusade is not “sad or dejected” by the result and pointed to Lula’s more than 56 million votes.
“Congratulations, President Lula, on your victory,” he said.
But the election result dealt a blow to progressive Brazilians, who did not find an easy outright victory over Bolsonaro, a former army captain who has continually attacked the country’s democratic institutions and shattered Brazil’s foreign reputation.
Bolsonaro is also accused of wreaking havoc on the environment and catastrophically mismanaging a covid outbreak that has killed some 700,000 Brazilians, undermining vaccination and containment efforts and peddling cures contrary to charlatans.
Speaking Sunday night, Bolsonaro vowed to spend more time convincing poorer sections of society that they would prefer a far-right government to a left-wing one.
The far-right leader said: “I perceive that there were many votes (cast) because of the condition of other Brazilians, who feel that it is worth increasing, especially of basic products. I perceive that many other people change their preference, but some adjustments may be for the worse.
“We tried to show this other aspect of the campaign, but it turns out that it has not been registered with the maximum layers of society. “
He said Brazil deserves to avoid following neighboring countries such as Chile and Colombia that recently elected leftist leaders, but he flatly refused to answer questions about possible election fraud, after spending months criticizing the security of electronic voting machines.
Bolsonaro has hinted he will resign if he loses, raising fears of a Trump-style insurgency among his supporters if Lula wins.
Prominent Bolsonarists have been elected to Brazil’s Congress and as state governors, in addition to Bolsonaro’s former fitness minister, Eduardo Pazuello, who is a member of the Rio Congress, and his former environment minister, Ricardo Salles.
Pazuello Bolsonaro’s health minister at the height of the pandemic that killed more than 685,000 people in Brazil. A former army general, he promoted curanderos remedies such as hydroxychloroquine.
Meanwhile, Salles, the environment minister who presided over a sharp increase in Amazon deforestation. A federal police investigation accused the far-right ideologue of hindering the investigation of environmental crimes. A separate investigation revealed that it was linked to illegal timber exports. He denied all charges.
The governor of Rio who supports Bolsonaro, Cláudio Castro, was re-elected while one of Bolsonaro’s most debatable former ministers, evangelical preacher Damares Alves, claimed a seat in the Senate.
Tarcísio de Freitas, Bolsonaro’s candidate for governor of São Paulo, also fared better than polls had predicted and will face Lula’s ally, Fernando Haddad, in the round.
“The right is going to be on the moon,” said political scientist Christian Lynch.
Thiago Amparo, an educator and columnist for the newspaper Folha de São Paulo, said the more powerful right-wing demonstration than expected showed that Bolsonaro and Bolsonarism were “alive and dynamic. “
“There was a feeling among the left that Lula had a chance to win in the first round. . . the effects show that it was illusory to believe that the election would serve to punish Bolsonaro for his disastrous policies during the pandemic. “
“I feel exhausted,” Amparo added. But the effects show that now we don’t have time to rest. It’s time to take to the streets. . . Otherwise, we will again have a very bleak long career.
“I think Bolsonaro has the momentum,” said Thomas Traumann, a political observer based in Rio de Janeiro, though he even believes Lula remains the favorite. “It’s a very disappointing night for the left. “
There, the determination of Lula’s component and his allies has been revealed since the successes of the right and the momentary need to circulate.
“I think it’s a possibility that the other Brazilians are giving me,” Lula said before heading to a party with his supporters on São Paulo’s Paulista Avenue. “The crusade begins tomorrow. “
In downtown Rio de Janeiro, a large crowd of people, usually dressed in red, drank beer and danced samba as they waited for the latest countdown to appear on a screen overlooking the square.
But jubilant spirits calmed down when the effects showed Lula still approaching the 2% of the majority he needed to avoid a duel with Bolsonaro.
“I’m disappointed,” said Kharine Gil, a 23-year-old college student. “Because we have noticed that Bolsonaro is more powerful than we thought. “
Elaine Azevedo, a 34-year-old security systems worker, looked defeated as she looked at the screen showing the results.
“I feel despair, natural despair,” said Azevedo, who wore red from head to toe and wore a hat with Lula’s call. “We all thought Lula would win easily. “
But at a community bar a block away, Eudacio Queiroz Alves, a 65-year-old retired driver, celebrates.
“It was expected,” he said. People are with Bolsonaro. I am convinced that he will win.