Bolsonaro fomenting violence, says rival
SAO PAOLO: Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro is “fomenting violence”, his leftist rival Fernando Haddad said on Saturday.
Haddad, trailing in the polls ahead of an Oct 28 runoff, argued against Bolsonaro’s pledge to ease gun laws for citizens to combat rampant insecurity and highlighted contentious remarks Bolsonaro has made.
“My adversary foments violence, including a culture of rape,” Haddad said, recalling an episode when Bolsonaro told a congressman she didn’t “deserve” to be raped by him.
The charge was made as violent incidents linked to the election occurred in the country.
Earlier, a man was stabbed to death in a bar for reportedly yelling support for Haddad’s Workers Party. A transgender woman also said she was beaten by Bolsonaro supporters.
Haddad, a former mayor of Sao Paulo, is fighting to close a big gap between him and Bolsonaro. He is pushing for televised debates that his rival had so far avoided, initially because of a wound Bolsonaro suffered when an assailant stabbed him last month.
In the first round of the election last Sunday, Bolsonaro easily dominated, winning 46 per cent of the vote to Haddad’s 29 per cent.
A subsequent Datafolha survey suggested Bolsonaro, a former paratrooper running on an anticrime, anti-corruption platform, had 58 per cent voter support going into the run-off, against 42 per cent for Haddad.