Ex-army captain’s pledge to jail political crooks earns huge vote
● Brazil candidate almost wins vote outright as rising crime sways poll
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 more freedom to shoot drug traffickers.
Far-right congressman Jair Bolsonaro received 46 per cent of the vote, just short of the 50-plus per cent he needed. The result means Mr Bolsonaro will face second-place finisher Fernando Haddad in a run-off vote on 28 October.
Mr Haddad – the Workers’ Party standard bearer who was appointed by jailed expresident Luiz Inacio da Silva – received 29 per cent of the vote in the first round. Polls have predicted a close race in the run-off. Mr 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.
Bianca Santos, a 40-yearold psychologist who gathered outside a hotel where Mr Bolsonaro was watching the returns, said: “This is a victory for honest people who want the best for Brazil. I believe he is the only one with a serious plan to end crime.”
For voters, Mr Bolsonaro and Mr Haddad represent starkly different visions for the future.
Mr 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.
True to the Workers’ Party’s leftist roots, Haddad has instead promised to fight longstanding inequalities, scrap a major labour reform passed last year and invest more in education. Where Brazil’s next leader takes the economy – the largest in Latin America – will have a large impact on surrounding countries that are trading partners with Brazil. The next leader will also have an influence on Venezuela, both diplomatically and practically, as thousands of Venetraffickers
zuelans have crossed Brazil’s northern border.
Mr Bolsonaro has promised a harder line on Venezuela and other leftist regimes and closer ties with the United States. It is not clear what Mr Bolsonaro would do to further isolate Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, but he once suggested creating camps for the Venezuelans who had fled the country’s economic collapse.
Much of his campaign focused on domestic issues. Mr Bolsonaro has painted a nation in collapse where drug 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 criminals 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 19641985 dictatorship.
Mr Haddad – a former education minister – has also spent much time arguing that Mr Da Silva, his mentor, was unfairly jailed. The strategy is aimed at attracting voters who still feel strong affection for the former leader despite a corruption conviction. Workers’ Party stalwarts are still fuming about the 2016 impeachment and removal of office of President Dilma Rousseff, Mr Da Silva’s predecessor.
Matthew Taylor, an associate professor of Latin American politics at American University, said in the weeks before the run-off vote Mr Bolsonaro would likely hit Mr Haddad hard on the theme of corruption within the Workers’ Party.