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SAO PAULO – A former far-right army captain who expresses his nostalgia for the Brazilian military dictatorship won Sunday his presidential election by a surprisingly wide margin, but did not get enough votes to avoid a second round against a rival of the left.
Jair Bolsonaro, whose increase at the last minute almost gave him the electoral stunner, obtained 46.7% of the vote, against 28.5% for the former mayor of Sao Paulo, Fernando Haddad, said the Court electoral office of Brazil after the count of votes. He needed more than 50% support to win.
The polls predicted that Bolsonaro would be in front of Sunday, but it far exceeded expectations, offering its past competitors increased funding, institutional support to parties and free television time on the air.
In the end, Bolsonaro's strong performance reflects both a desire for the past and a sign of the future. The tiny Social and Liberal Party candidate made judicious use of Twitter and Facebook to spread his message that he alone could put an end to the corruption, criminality and economic malaise that Brazil has seized. past years – and bring back the good old days and the tradition. values.
"I voted against theft and corruption," said Mariana Prado, a 54-year-old human resources specialist. "I know everyone is promising to put an end to these two things, but I think Bolsonaro is the only one who can help put an end to my anxieties."
Both candidates painted a very different picture of the past and the future of the country.
Bolsonaro has portrayed a nation in collapse, where drug traffickers and politicians are flying with equal impunity. Moral decay is installed. He pleaded for a relaxation of the laws on the possession of weapons so that individuals can fight criminals, leaving the police more free to use force and restoring "Brazilian values "Traditional" – although some question its definition in light of its approving allusions to the torturers of the dictatorship era and its derisory comments on women, blacks and homosexuals.
He took advantage of the deep anger of the Brazilians for their traditional political class and his anger "after a massive corruption investigation that revealed incredible levels of corruption.
Beginning in 2014, prosecutors alleged that the Brazilian government had been run as a cartel for years, with billions of dollars in public contracts awarded in exchange for bribes and kickbacks.
Revelations of cash suitcases, confidential recordings of compromising exchanges between powerful brokers and the imprisonment of some of the country's most powerful people, including da Silva, have unfolded as a Hollywood scenario – and in have become one: Netflix has released a fictional (hardly) fictional story this year.
The Workers Party was at the center of this investigation and had a hard time making a comeback with Haddad, who portrayed a country hijacked by an elite that will protect its privileges at all costs and can not stand to see the life of Poor Brazilians and workers are improving.
Haddad pledged to roll back President Michel Temer's economic reforms, which he said were eroding workers' rights, increasing investment in social programs and reviving the years of strong expansion that Brazil had under his mentor, da Silva.
Although they come from different sides of the political spectrum, Bolsonaro and Haddad have run campaigns based on nostalgia for a better time. Bolsonaro frequently spoke of the country's military dictatorship in 1964-1985, promising a return to traditional values and a safer and simpler time. In one of his last calls to voters before Sunday's vote, Bolsonaro tweeted that he "would defend the family and the innocence of children, treat criminals as such and not participate in any ploys. corruption."
At the same time, the Workers' Party defended the argument that a vote for Haddad would be a vote that would bring back the years of prosperity that Brazil experienced under the leadership of da Silva, his mentor. On the eve of the elections, da Silva tweeted: "Re-form yourself in your memory, remember how my eight years of government were."
The number of Bolsonaro polls has increased by about 15% since September 6, when he was stabbed. He was unable to campaign or participate in the proceedings, having undergone surgery during a three-week hospital stay.
"For a forerunner, the best thing to do is to make as few mistakes as possible," said Andre Portela of the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a leading university and think tank. "Being stabbed helped Bolsonaro to that. He was not exposed to debates, to people who questioned him. "
The campaign to run the largest economy in Latin America, which is a major trading partner for the countries of the region and a diplomatic heavyweight, has been unpredictable and tense. Da Silva conducted the first polls from a distance, but was prevented from appearing after a conviction for corruption. Bolsonaro's guilty candidates forced candidates, and Bolsonaro himself, to change strategy and re-register.
Since the beginning of the years, Brazilians have said that their confidence in their leaders and their hopes for the future have diminished.
This election was once regarded as the great hope of ending a period of turbulence during which many politicians and corporate executives were convicted of bribery, a president was dismissed and dismissed during controversial proceedings and the most Great economy of the region has experienced a prolonged recession.
Instead, the two leaders only reflect the enraged divisions that have opened up in Brazilian politics following the removal of former President Dilma Rousseff and the revelations of the Car Wash registry investigation.
In the middle are Brazilians who do not like the two candidates and see them as symbols of a failing system.
"I think we'll continue with the same polarization," if Haddad or Bolsonaro prevails, said 27-year-old massage therapist Victor Aversa, who voted for center-left candidate Ciro Gomes, third of surveys. "We have taken this path of crazy bipolarity. Haddad and Bolsonaro will both be running populist governments. "
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Prengaman reported from Rio de Janeiro. The editors of the associated press Stan Lehman in Sao Paulo and Beatrice Christofaro in Rio de Janeiro contributed to this report.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.
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