Elections will be held in Brazil on Sunday. The military has announced that it will independently review the election results and contest them if necessary.
- In Brazil on Sunday (October 2nd) citizens are called upon to elect the President
- Incumbents are up for election Jair Bolsonaro and his challenger Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
- The information and developments on the election in our news ticker
+++ 5 p.m.: The election in Brazil is overshadowed by fears of possible unrest. Bolsonaro has said several times that he will contest the election result if he loses. “Only God” can remove him from office, he says, claiming without any evidence that there is widespread fraud in Brazil’s electronic voting system. At a campaign event, Bolsonaro said there were only three possible outcomes for him: “prison, death or victory”.
His opponent Lula said on Friday that he feared Bolsonaro could cause “unrest” in the event of a defeat. Many people are braced for a Brazilian version of the riots that shook the US after Bolsonaro’s political idol Donald Trump refused to acknowledge his defeat. Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue political institute told AFP that “democracy” itself was up for election in the election. Bolsonaro is the “most undemocratic president” since Brazil’s military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985 – the end of which the incumbent president openly regrets. Some degree of rioting and violence in the wake of the election is “probably likely,” Shifter said.
Brazil election 2022: the military wants to check the election itself – Bolsonaro could not recognize the result
+++ 2:52 p.m.: In the course of the upcoming elections in Brazil, the military has announced that it will independently monitor and check the elections by means of a sample count. This reports the portal Development Policy Online. If the official result differs from their count, the military wants to object to the election. This empowers the military to have a say in the outcome of the election.
In the run-up to the Brazilian elections, Bolsonaro had repeatedly questioned the reliability of the electronic voting system and announced that he would not accept an election result in favor of his opponent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The electronic voting booths were only subjected to a security test in May, which was passed without any errors. In the interview at National Public Radio Michel Kovacs, Rio’s chief technology officer, said on Friday (September 30) that the digital ballot box was “totally secure, totally reliable and totally transparent.”
Brazil election: Lula ahead in polls – Bolsonaro could not recognize the result
Update from Saturday, October 01, 2022, 10:40 a.m.: On Sunday there will be elections in Brazil: The country is facing a choice of direction, the right-wing incumbent Jair Bolsonaro could be voted out. According to current polls, his challenger Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has 48 percent of the votes, Bolsonaro only 34 percent.
Given his likely defeat, Bolsonaro has hinted that he might not accept the election result if leftist presidential candidate Lula da Silva wins. The only way for the opposition to prevent him from running for a second term is to steal the election, Bolsonaro said. This rhetoric finds loud among his followers foreign policy appeal. About a quarter of the approximately 50 million Brazilians polled to vote for Bolsonaro said the president should not recognize the result if he loses.
If Lula da Silva receives more than 50 percent of the votes in the first round of elections on Sunday, he would be elected Brazil’s head of state in the first round. If none of the candidates receive this majority, the two best-placed candidates will compete against each other in a runoff on October 30th.
Brazil election: Bolsonaro speaks of security gaps, but there is no evidence
+++ 6.45 p.m.: Electronic voting has been in use in Brazil since 1996. Incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro recently sowed doubts about the security of these electoral systems, like the British news broadcaster BBC writes. “The system is completely vulnerable,” Bolsonaro said during the election campaign.
However, Bolsonaro has not provided any evidence for his allegations against the system. After the 2014 Brazil elections, the votes on the electronic machines were checked, with the result that there was no election fraud, such as BBC reported.
Brazil election: Neymar promotes Bolsonaro with TikTok video
+++ 3:56 p.m.: Brazilian soccer superstar Neymar has advertised far-right President Jair Bolsonaro online. The Paris St. Germain attacking player published a video on TikTok in which he mimes a song with a smile that calls for a vote for Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro tweeted Neymar’s video and added “Thanks @neymarjr!” as a comment.
The day before, Neymar, who has more than eight million subscribers on TikTok and almost 180 million on Instagram, thanked Bolsonaro for a visit to a children’s center he had founded in Sao Paulo. Communications Minister Fabio Faria and Bolsonaro’s son distributed a corresponding video message from the captain of the Brazilian national team.
While other Brazilian footballers such as Rai (ex-Paris) or Juninho (ex-Lyon) have already expressed their sympathies for Lula, Neymar is the first current Brazil international to voice his support for either candidate.
Brazil election: Bolsonaro and Lula call each other ‘liars’
First report from Friday, September 30th, 2022: RIO DE JANEIRO – Ahead of the first round of Brazil’s presidential election on Sunday (October 2), challenger Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is well ahead of incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in the polls. In a survey by the Datafolha institute, 48 percent of the votes went to the challenger, while the incumbent only got 34 percent.
With polemical attacks on Lula da Silva, the right-wing head of state denied the TV duel a few days before the presidential election. The 67-year-old insulted Lula on Thursday (September 29) in front of an audience of millions as a “liar”, “ex-prisoner” and “traitor to the fatherland” and made no secret of his personal dislike for the left-wing ex-president.
Brazil election: Lula clearly ahead of Bolsonaro
Bolsonaro also accused Lula of leading a gang of “thieves” during his tenure and referred to the corruption scandal involving state-owned oil company Petrobras. Lula spent a total of 18 months in prison over the scandal in 2018 and 2019, but his sentences were overturned by Brazil’s Supreme Court on formal grounds.
“The people will send you home on October 2,” replied Lula, who is well ahead of the incumbent in the polls. He also accused Bolsonaro of being a “liar”. “How can you look in the mirror when you see what happened under your administration?” Lula asked. He referred to a scandal in the Ministry of Education and the allegations against Bolsonaro’s eldest son, who is suspected of embezzling funds.
- Who vote?
- According to official figures from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), on October 2, 156,454,011 Brazilians will be eligible to vote, six percent more than in the 2018 election. A good 52 percent of voters are women. In Brazil, voting is compulsory for all citizens between the ages of 18 and 70. However, the fine for those who do not vote is small and therefore rather symbolic. 16 and 17-year-olds, over 70-year-olds and illiterates may, but do not have to, vote.
- Who is elected?
- Up for election are the president, the governors of all 27 states (including the Federal District of Brasília), the members of parliament and one-third of the senators at the federal level (Congresso), as well as the members of the state parliaments. All but the senators are elected to four-year terms. In the presidential and gubernatorial elections, a runoff will be held on October 30 if no candidate wins an absolute majority in the first ballot.
- How is voting done?
- Brazilians vote at electronic ballot boxes. Each voter must enter a code that matches the candidate’s code: two digits for the president and governors, three for senators, four for members of the federal assembly, and five for members of each state’s legislature. That electronic voting system, which has been working in Brazil since 1996, has been regularly criticized by far-right President Jair Bolsonaro as not being forgery-proof, but there is no evidence of this. In this way, the incumbent may be preparing to challenge the result if he is not re-elected.
If Lula gets more than 50 percent of the votes in Sunday’s first ballot, he would be elected Brazil’s head of state in the first round. If none of the candidates receive this majority, the two best-placed candidates will compete against each other in a runoff on October 30th.
Brazil election: Lula polarized
The left-wing politician Lula ruled Brazil from 2003 to 2010. His controversial arrest knocked him out in the presidential race in 2018, and Bolsonaro came to power. In the four years of his tenure, the right-wing president polarized like no other head of state before him in Brazil. (skr/afp)
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