In fact, it should now be much more difficult for Lula to win the elections.
(Photo: dpa)
Salvador It’s a victory – but it has to disappoint him: Ex-President Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva was ahead in the elections for the presidency with around 48 percent of the votes. Around 43 percent of voters still voted for President Jair Bolsonaro.
In the election polls, Lula had led by a far greater margin for months. Even a victory for Lula in the first round seemed possible. Now the two opponents are separated by just under five percentage points. A run-off election on October 30 is necessary.
Ex-President Lula was calm in a short speech to supporters and the media. He has never managed to win an election in the first round. “Now it’s like overtime before the final win,” he said.
In fact, it should now be much more difficult for Lula to win the elections. Because Jair Bolsonaro emerges politically strengthened from the first ballot. His endorsement has propelled a surprising number of candidates to influential posts for governor, senator or congressman in the general election that was being held at the same time.
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His current party, the Partido Liberal, is the largest group in the House of Representatives with 101 MPs. These allies will provide important support to Bolsonaro in the four weeks of campaigning leading up to the runoff.
New election campaign begins
The right-wing populist Bolsonaro is also ideologically strengthened. He will now use the surprisingly good election result to his supporters as proof that the election polls are no good or fake – which he regularly claims.
Bolsonaro will now focus primarily on the poor, where he performs significantly worse than Lula.
(Photo: IMAGO/TheNews2)
He won against the lies, Bolsonaro said in a short press conference in front of the presidential palace in Brasília. When asked how he now judged the digital voting system, which he had criticized for months as prone to failure, he explained that he would first obtain the military’s assessment of the elections before commenting on them.
Traditionally, Brazilian presidents have been hard to beat for re-election. They can use the budget funds from the state budget to finance their allies’ elections.
In addition to the already generous election campaign funding, the members of parliament and senators in Congress have received enormous sums of money over the past few months, which they were largely free to dispose of in their constituencies. No wonder that many politicians were confirmed in office.
>> Read here: Digital election campaign in Brazil – How the opposition fends off fake news from Bolsonaro
In Brazil, it is said that in runoff elections, the cards would be completely reshuffled and a whole new election campaign would begin. The decisive factor will now be whether the two candidates succeed in lowering their high rejection rates: According to the polls, 52 percent definitely do not want to vote for Bolsonaro. Lula’s rejection rate is 40 percent. Bolsonaro will now focus primarily on the poor, where he performs significantly worse than Lula.
Lula, on the other hand, will try to make concessions to the political center and the economy in order to win votes there. He may introduce an economic cabinet to build trust among entrepreneurs. His economic program has also been very vague so far.
>> Read here: Peaceful transfer of power not certain – Brazil fears a coup
Brazil could benefit from this. As a reminder, when Lula first won the election in 2002, it was mainly because he, the leftist, had previously committed himself to conservative fiscal and monetary policies – which he actually implemented. The rest is well known: Brazil experienced unprecedented economic growth under President Lula.
More: Between new beginnings and the abyss – Brazil is also voting on its future on Sunday.