Tag: Brazil

The election authorities stressed that Bolsonaro and his party must modify their complaint and include the results of the first round of elections to initiate the legal procedure…reports Asian Lite News

After Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva narrowly won in Brazil’s presidential elections last month, outgoing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has filed a petition to formally challenge the poll results, CNN reported.

In the petition filed on November 22, Bolsonaro and the leaders of his Liberal Party claimed that some voting machines had malfunctioned and demanded the annulment of votes cast through them. Following the election results, Bolsonaro has not accepted his defeat in the presidential elections. However, he had said previously that he will continue to “fulfil all commandments of the constitution.”

The complaint revealed that removing those votes will make Bolsonaro win the elections, Labour Party claimed citing analysis conducted by a company hired by them, as per the CNN report. In response to Bolsonaro’s petition, Brazilian election authorities have said that the same voting machines were utilised during the first round of elections.

The election authorities stressed that Bolsonaro and his party must modify their complaint and include the results of the first round of elections to initiate the legal procedure, CNN cited CNN Brasil’s report. Chief Justice of Brazil’s Supreme Electoral Court, Alexandre Moraes has given 24 hours’ deadline to Bolsonaro and his petitioners to modify their complaint.

In the elections, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva received over 60 million votes, which is the most in Brazilian history. According to Brazil’s electoral authority, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva secured 50.90 per cent of the vote while Bolsonaro received 49.10 per cent votes. Addressing supporters on October 30, he said, “they tried to bury me alive and I am here,” as per the CNN report. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced that he will govern the nation from January 1, 2023. It will be his third term as he has been Brazil’s President for two consecutive terms between 2003 and 2010. He made a comeback in presidential elections after a series of corruption allegations leading to his imprisonment for 580 days.

However, the Supreme Court annulled the sentences announced against Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. World leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, congratulated Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for winning Brazil’s presidential elections.

“Starting on January 1, 2023, I will govern for the 215 million Brazilians, not just the ones who voted for me. There are not two Brazils. We are one country, one people, one great nation,” CNN quoted Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as saying. (ANI)

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The transition process is mandated by law and does not depend on the political acceptance of the election outcome…reports Asian Lite news

Brazil’s President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has appointed his running mate Geraldo Alckmin to head the transition team coordinating the handover of power with the current government of Jair Bolsonaro.

“Our priority will be the budget issue, to keep the Auxilio Brasil (Help Brazil) welfare plan running and raise the minimum wage,” Gleisi Hoffmann, head of the Workers’ Party, told reporters in Sao Paulo Tuesday.

In keeping with Lula’s instructions, the transition team will also include the President of the Workers’ Party and coordinator of the government programme, former minister and economist Aloizio Mercadante.

The transition process is mandated by law and does not depend on the political acceptance of the election outcome.

Bolsonaro’s transition team will be headed by his chief of staff, Ciro Nogueira, leader of the Progressive Party, which is part of the “Centrao” forces comprising the majority bloc in Congress.

The transition teams will be headquartered at the Banco do Brasil Cultural Centre in Brasilia for November and December.

“Vice President(-elect) Alckmin has the legitimacy and political capacity to carry this process forward,” Hoffmann said.

Alckmin, of the Brazilian Socialist Party, is a conservative who served four terms as governor of the southeast state of Sao Paulo, Brazil’s richest and most populous state.

Vice President Hamilton Mourao of the current government called Alckmin to acknowledge the ruling party’s defeat and pledged to work together to complete the transition.

Lula, who had served as the President for two terms between 2003 and 2010, won Sunday runoff election. He is set to serve a third four-year term beginning January 1, 2023.

This is a comeback for the former President who could not run in the 2018 election because he was in jail and banned from standing for office.

He had been found guilty of receiving a bribe from a Brazilian construction firm in return for contracts with Brazil’s state oil company Petrobras.

He spent 580 days in jail before his conviction was annulled, marking his return to the political fray.

Meanwhile, Bolsonaro, who is yet to concede defeat, broke his silence on Tuesday for the first time since the election, and thanked the voters who cast their ballots for him.

Lula received more than 60 million votes, or 50.89 per cent of the ballots cast on Sunday, surpassing Bolsonaro’s 58 million votes, or 49.11 per cent.

This was the smallest margin in a runoff election in Brazil’s history.

In the first round held on October 2, Lula garnered 48.3 per cent of the vote, compared to 43.2 per cent for Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro yet to concede defeat

Following his defeat in this week’s presidential runoff election, outgoing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro finally broke his silence and thanked voters who voted for him, but did not acknowledge his loss.

In Sunday’s election, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was banned from standing for office after being convicted in a fraud case, received more than 60 million votes, or 50.89 per cent of the ballots, surpassing Bolsonaro’s 58 million votes, or 49.11 per cent.

This was the smallest margin in a runoff election in Brazil’s history.

In the first round held on October 2, Lula garnered 48.3 per cent of the vote, compared to 43.2 per cent for Bolsonaro.

In a brief statement on Tuesday, the outgoing leader said that “our dreams continue as alive as ever”, reports the BBC.

Bolsanaro insisted that he would continue to strive for “order and progress”, the words emblazoned on Brazil’s flag.

Directly addressing his supporters who have erected hundreds of roadblocks in all but two states of Brazil, Bolsonaro referred to them as “current popular movements” and said they were “the fruit of indignation and a sense of injustice of how the electoral process unfolded”.

He added that “peaceful demonstrations” would always be welcome, but that “our methods can’t be the same as those used by the left, which always harmed the population, such as invasion of lands, disrespecting property and impeding the right to come and go”.

In his short address that lasted only two minutes, he did not mention Lula at all, the BBC reported.

Despite Bolsonaro is yet to concede hs defeat, Brazil’s Supreme Court released a statement shortly after his speech saying that by authorising the transition of power, he had recognised the result of the election.

Lula’s victory has paving the way for the 77-year-old’s third four-year term beginning from January 1, 2023.

This is a comeback for the former President who could not run in the 2018 election because he was in jail and banned from standing for office.

Lula, who had served as the President for two terms between 2003 and 2010, had been found guilty of receiving a bribe from a Brazilian construction firm in return for contracts with Brazil’s state oil company Petrobras.

He spent 580 days in jail before his conviction was annulled, marking his return to the political fray.

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Lula obtained 59.8 million votes, or 50.86 per cent of the total, surpassing Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party (PL), who received 57.8 million votes…reports Asian Lite News

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has defeated sitting President Jair Bolsonaro in the presidential election runoff.

After winning the second round of presidential elections on Sunday, Lula of the Workers’ Party (PT) will now serve a four-year term beginning on January 1, 2023, reports Xinhua news agency.

According to figures released by the Superior Electoral Tribunal, Lula obtained 59.8 million votes, or 50.86 per cent of the total, surpassing Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party (PL), who received 57.8 million votes, or 49.14 per cent.

This is the smallest difference in a runoff in Brazil’s history.

In the first round held on October 2, Lula obtained 48.3 per cent of the vote, compared to 43.2 per cent received by Bolsonaro.

Lula, who had served two terms in office between January 2003 and December 2010, focused his campaign on social issues, making pledges including minimum wage increases, strengthening of state-owned companies, and efforts against hunger and poverty.

This is a comeback for the former President who could not run in the 2018 election because he was in jail and banned from standing for office, the BBC reported.

He had been found guilty of receiving a bribe from a Brazilian construction firm in return for contracts with Brazil’s state oil company Petrobras.

Lula spent 580 days in jail before his conviction was annulled and he returned to the political fray.

In his victory speech, he said he would govern for all Brazilians and not just those who voted for him.

“This country needs peace and unity. This population doesn’t want to fight anymore,” the BBC quoted Lula as saying.

Bolsonaro however, is yet to concede.

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The two repeatedly called each other liars during an encounter lasting about 90 minutes. The term was used more than a dozen times by each of the candidates in the TV Band debate that, otherwise, was less aggressive…reports Asian Lite News

Brazil’s former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and incumbent Jair Bolsonaro clashed in their first one-on-one debate Sunday, two weeks before the presidential election’s runoff.

Debates in the election’s first round featured several other candidates, none of whom garnered more than 5% of the Oct. 2 vote. During the debates, they were largely distractions from the two obvious frontrunners.

The two repeatedly called each other liars during an encounter lasting about 90 minutes. The term was used more than a dozen times by each of the candidates in the TV Band debate that, otherwise, was less aggressive than many analysts had expected.

“You are a liar. You lie every day,” da Silva said during one exchange. Bolsonaro frequently said: “You can’t come here to tell people these lies.”

Earlier this month, da Silva, who is universally known as Lula, won the election’s first round with 48% of the vote compared to Bolsonaro’s 43%. Polls indicate the leftist former president, who governed between 2003-2010, remains the frontrunner, though his lead has shrunk considerably.

Each candidate focused on the issues that, according to polls, represent their adversary’s weak points: for Bolsonaro, the COVID-19 pandemic that killed 680,000 Brazilians, and for da Silva, corruption scandals involving his Workers’ Party.

Da Silva and Bolsonaro are expected to take part in one more debate, days before the vote, on TV Globo, Brazil’s most popular network.

Lula, whom polls give a five or six-point lead over Bolsonaro ahead of the 30 October run-off, also attacked his rival’s assault on the environment. “You showed no respect for the Amazon – none at all,” Lula said, vowing to create a ministry for native peoples if elected.

“We are going to win these elections so we can take care of the Amazon and outlaw the invasion of Indigenous lands and illegal mining.”

Bolsonaro counterattacked in what was the first face-to-face debate between the two politicians during this year’s fractious struggle for power.

The far-right radical, who was elected in 2018 after Lula was jailed on corruption charges that were later quashed, berated his adversary for the corruption scandals that blighted the 14 years his Worker’s party (PT) spent in power, from 2003 to 2016. “You’re a national embarrassment,” Bolsonaro declared during the debate in Brazil’s largest city, São Paulo.

Bolsonaro accused Lula of cosying up to leftist autocrats including the leaders of Nicaragua and Venezuela, Daniel Ortega and Nicolás Maduro. But Lula rejected those accusations, claiming it was Bolsonaro – a former soldier notorious for celebrating dictators such as Chile’s General Augusto Pinochet – who posed a threat to Brazil’s young democracy.

“My opponent is basically the most shameless liar that exists,” Lula said. “I’m the one who defends democracy and freedom – much more than this tiny little dictator … I want to govern this country democratically as I have twice before,” said the former union leader, who governed from 2003 to 2010.

Progressive Brazilians had hoped Lula would sweep to an emphatic victory over Bolsonaro in the election’s first round – but the Donald Trump-admiring populist fared better than most polls had predicted, securing 43% of votes to Lula’s 48%. Polls had forecast Bolsonaro would receive no more than 37%.

Lula is still the favourite to win but Bolsonaro’s better-than-expected performance means the election is likely to remain a nailbiter until the results are announced.

In recent days both candidates have embarked on a campaign blitz in the three south-eastern states that should decide the outcome, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Together they are home to nearly 64 million of Brazil’s 156 million voters.

Last week Lula visited one of Rio’s largest favelas, the Complexo do Alemão, in a bid to win over working-class voters.

Bolsonaro risked alienating hundreds of thousands of favela residents during Sunday’s debate by suggesting that Lula had visited the community to socialise with criminals. “There weren’t any police around you – just drug traffickers,” Bolsonaro said, sparking outrage from favela activists.

“Bolsonaro doesn’t like the poor. Bolsonaro doesn’t like black people. Bolsonaro doesn’t like those from the favela,” tweeted Rene Silva, the Complexo do Alemão media activist who arranged Lula’s visit to the favela.

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