Brazil Election: Democracy on the Line - Poster of the Week
Updated: Oct 11, 2022
Elecições Gerais Já / General Elections Now!
Comites De Luta Contra O Golpe
Offset, Circa 2019
Brazil
#38591
Translation: "Bolsonaro Out
General Elections Now!
Free Lula
Committees Fighting Against the Coup"
Last Sunday, Brazil voted in the first round of a presidential election, where far-right President Jair Bolsonaro faced former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Both Bolsonaro and Lula will go on to the second round of presidential elections on October 30th, with Lula having a slight lead.
Many people fear that if Bolsonaro fails to secure the majority of the votes, he will stage a coup, or worse, a right wing-insurgency, borrowing a page from Trump's playbook. Bolsonaro recently attacked Brazil's electoral system, claiming it is susceptible to corruption and manipulation and that the electoral authority should take advice from the military for improvements onm the current voting system. Bolsonaro continues to spread disinformation about the electoral system and intends to discredit any election results that do not favor him. Donald Trump even takes some credit for helping Bolsonaro reach the runoff!
Bolsonaro has praised Brazilian-military dictatorships of the 1960's. Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, and Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stoessner. This year he reaffirmed support for and collaboration with religiously reactionary leaders like Vladimir Putin of Russia, Viktor Orban of Hungary.
Meanwhile, Lula, of the left-wing Workers Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores) is running to advance the interests of Brazil's working class, restoring and preserving the Amazon Rainforest, and protecting Brazil's indigenous communities. In 2018, he was arrested on false-corruption and money laundering charges, spent 580 days in prison, and was released in November 2019, after the Federal Court ruled his arrest and conviction unlawful.
Regardless of the outcome, we can celebrate the election of Erika Hilton and Duda Salabert, two transgender women to Brazil's Chamber of Deputies, and Sônia Guajajara and Célia Xakriabá, two indigenous women, to Brazil's National Congress.
References:
Brazil: Lula & Bolsonaro to Face Off in Presidential Runoff | Democracy Now
Brazil's Bolsonaro meets diplomats to sow doubts on election | AP News
Brazil: Bolsonaro Celebrate Brutal Dictatorship | Human Rights Watch
Trump 'happy to have helped' Bolsonaro reach runoff in Brazil | The Hill
Brasil's former president Lula walks free from prison after supreme court ruling | The Guardian
Minority women reaching for office in Brazil's elections | AP News
Brazilian left celebrates election wins for trans and indigenous candidates | The Guardian
In a First, Brazil Elected Two Trans Women to Its National Congress | Them