Still an open race in Brazil
Bolsonaro wins first round vote but it’s not an outright victory.
RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilians showed their disgust with corruption and rising crime in the first round of presidential voting, nearly giving an outright victory to a brash-speaking former army captain who has promised to restore “traditional values”, jail crooked politicians and give police a freer hand to shoot drug traffickers.
But with far-right congressman Jair Bolsonaro getting 46% of the vote on Sunday, short of the 50%plus he needed, voters also signalled they were not quite ready to make a final decision. On Oct 28, Bolsonaro will face second-place finisher Fernando Haddad in a runoff vote.
Haddad, the Workers’ Party standard-bearer who was appointed by jailed ex-President Luiz Inacio da Silva, got 29% in the first round, and polls have predicted a close race in the runoff.
Bolsonaro was expected to come out in front on Sunday, but he far outperformed predictions, blazing past competitors with more financing, the institutional backing of traditional parties and much more free air time on television.
The candidate from the tiny Social and Liberal Party made savvy use of Twitter and Facebook to spread his message that only he could end the corruption, crime and economic malaise that has seized Brazil in recent years – and bring back the good old days and traditional values.
“This is a victory for honest people who want the best for Brazil,” said Bianca Santos, a 40-year-old psychologist who gathered outside a hotel where Bolsonaro was watching the returns.
“I believe he is the only one with a serious plan to end crime.”
For voters, Bolsonaro and Haddad represent starkly different visions for the future. Bolsonaro has promised to slash spending, privatise as much as possible in a country long heavy on state control and be a check on social movements that have gained much ground in recent years.
Meanwhile, true to the Workers’ Party’s leftist roots, Haddad has promised to fight long-standing inequalities, scrap a major labour reform passed last year and invest more in education.
Bolsonaro has promised a harder line on Venezuela and other leftist regimes and closer ties with the United States. It’s not clear what Bolsonaro would do to further isolate Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, but he once suggested creating camps for the Venezuelans who have fled the country’s economic collapse.
But much of his campaign focused on domestic issues.
Bolsonaro has painted a nation in collapse, where drug traffickers and politicians steal with equal impunity, and moral rot has set in.
He has advocated loosening gun ownership laws so individuals can fight off criminals, encouraging police to shoot more crooks and restoring “traditional” Brazilian values – though some take issue with his definition of those values in light of his approving allusions to the country’s 1964-1985 dictatorship and his derisive comments about women, blacks and gay people.
Haddad, a former education minister, has also spent much time arguing that da Silva, his mentor, was unfairly jailed – a strategy aimed at attracting voters who still feel strong affection for da Silva despite a corruption conviction. Workers’ Party stalwarts are still fuming about the 2016 impeachment and removal of office of President Dilma Rousseff, da Silva’s predecessor.
Many voters, already disillusioned with their democracy, said they felt trapped by the choice between the two front-runners, a sentiment likely to deepen in the weeks to come.
“I didn’t like any of the candidates and I felt obliged to choose the lesser of two evils,” said Frederico Vasconcellos, a 68-year-old retired metalworker.
The Workers’ Party “managed to ruin the country with corruption and theft. ... So I decided to vote for Bolsonaro, who is the only one who can block the return of the Workers’ Party.”
I didn’t like any of the candidates and I felt obliged to choose the lesser of two evils. Frederico Vasconcellos