Bolsonaro falls short of victory in Brazil poll
Winner to be decided in run-off on Oct 28
RIO DE JANEIRO: A deeply polarised Brazil stood at a political crossroads yesterday as the bruising first round of the presidential election left voters with a stark choice in the run-off between far-right firebrand Jair Bolsonaro and leftist Fernando Haddad.
Mr Bolsonaro, an ultraconservative former paratrooper, easily beat a dozen other candidates on Sunday — but not by enough to avoid an October 28 showdown with Mr Haddad, the former mayor of Sao Paulo.
Mr Bolsonaro won 46% of the vote to Mr Haddad’s 29%, according to official results.
That tracked closely with pollster’s predictions, but Mr Bolsonaro charged that “polling problems” had cheated him of outright victory in the first round, which required him to pass the 50% threshold.
Some of his supporters protested outside the national electoral tribunal in the capital Brasilia, chanting “Fraud!”
That anger reflected the uncertain outlook for the second round.
Surveys suggest Mr Bolsonaro will have the edge, but that Mr Haddad will draw nearly even with him after picking up substantial support from the defeated candidates.
“We expected to win in the first round,” a voter for Mr Bolsonaro, 77-year-old retiree Lourdes Azevedo, said bitterly in Rio de Janeiro.
“Now things are more difficult: the second round is a risk.”
Mr Haddad, addressing his own supporters, called the looming run-off “a golden opportunity”, and challenged Mr Bolsonaro to a debate.
He replaced popular former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the race after Lula, imprisoned for corruption, was disqualified.
Despite his complaints, Mr Bolsonaro did not formally contest Sunday’s result, saying his voters “remain mobilised” for the second round.
But he faces fierce resistance going forward from a big part of Brazil’s 147-million-strong electorate put off by his record of denigrating comments against women, gays and the poor.
His unabashed nostalgia for the brutal military dictatorship that ruled Brazil between 1964 and 1985 has also sent a chill through many voters.
Mr Haddad, though, has his own burden. As the Workers’ Party candidate, he faces the palpable disappointment and anger of voters who blame the party for Brazil’s worst-ever recession, and for a long string of graft scandals.
Sunday’s general election — in which new federal and state legislatures were also chosen — exposed the deep divisions generated by both candidates.
Some voters — particularly women — carried “Not Him” placards to polling stations in opposition to Mr Bolsonaro.
But his supporters, like 53-year-old lawyer Roseli Milhomem in Brasilia, said they backed the veteran lawmaker because “Brazil wants change”.
“We’ve had enough of corruption. Our country is wealthy — it can’t fall into the wrong hands,” she said.
Political analyst Fernando Meireles of Minas Gerais Federal University said momentum appeared to favour Mr Bolsonaro.
“The probability of Mr Bolsonaro coming out victorious seems pretty big right now,” Mr Meireles said.
“It looks difficult for Mr Haddad to win in the second round, but not impossible.”
Better-off Brazilians have rallied to Mr Bolsonaro’s pledge to crush crime in a country where there are more than 62,000 murders each year, nearly as many rapes, and frequent muggings and robberies.
Mr Bolsonaro wants to boost police forces and relax gun laws.
Many voters are also drawn to his his promises to tackle corruption and cut public debt alongside his devout Catholic family-first stance.