Brazil Election
People Return Lula to the Presidency in Historic Election Victory
On October 30, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was elected president of Brazil for the third time in a runoff vote against the current president, Jair Bolsonaro. Lula, founder and leader of the Workers' Party (PT), won with a 2.14 million vote advantage over his Liberal Party opponent. Lula and his vice presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin of the Socialist Party, will assume office on January 1, 2023.
The results of the vote were close, with a mere 1.8 point difference between Lula's 50.90 per cent share of the vote and Bolsonaro's 49.10 per cent. Over 123 million Brazilians -- 79 per cent of the electorate -- took part in the second round vote.
Broad Front Formed to Prevent Bolsonaro's Re-election
The strategy of the PT and its
close allies was to create a broad front of political forces
willing to work together to deny Bolsonaro a second term. The
former army captain and his running mate, a retired general,
never hid their nostalgia for the U.S.-backed military coup of
1964 and the dictatorship that followed it for over twenty
years. Bolsonaro cloaked himself in religious and social
conservatism and pitched his campaign as a battle of "good"
against "evil" and even of "Christianity" versus "communism" to
avoid any discussion of the destruction his reactionary
government has wrought on Brazil, its people and natural
environment.
To begin building the broad front that was envisioned the PT, Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) and Green Party joined together formally in the Brazil of Hope Federation. Their alliance eventually expanded to a 10-party coalition in support of the Lula-Alckmin ticket. Two prominent candidates eliminated in the first round of the presidential election and two more parties threw their support behind Lula for the second round. Many unions, social movements and well-known personalities, including former political rivals, also declared their support for Lula.
Flanked by his allies as he delivered his first speech as president-elect on election night, Lula said the victory was not his or the PT's or the parties that supported him in the campaign, but the victory of "a huge democratic movement formed above political parties, personal interests and ideologies." He said the challenge ahead was "immense," as Brazil needed to be rebuilt in all its dimensions: "in politics, in the economy, in public management, in institutional harmony, in international relations and, above all, in caring for the people most in need."
Bolsonaro's Dirty Campaign, Refusal to Concede Defeat
Jair Bolsonaro was brought to
power from relative obscurity in 2018 as part of a continuing
coup against the PT that began with the illegal impeachment of
former president Dilma Rousseff in 2016. Its next target was
Lula, to prevent him from running for and likely winning the
presidency of Brazil in 2018. He was subjected to a vicious
"lawfare" campaign orchestrated by a corrupt U.S.-tutored
"anti-corruption" judge that resulted in his being unjustly
convicted and jailed for crimes there was no evidence he
committed, putting an end to his bid for the presidency just
weeks before the election.
In this year's election Bolsonaro and his backers were determined to hold on to the presidency by means fair or foul. The campaign they ran openly and routinely flouted the electoral law, inundating Brazilians with disinformation, "fake news," and fearmongering about what a Lula presidency would represent. Evidence also abounds of how Bolsonaro lost no opportunity to abuse the power of his office and control of the state treasury to buy votes for himself and suppress the votes of those who could be expected to support Lula and the PT. Voter harassment and intimidation, as well as violence, were also part of the Bolsonarists' arsenal.
In televised debates Bolsonaro told lies and repeatedly called Lula a "criminal," as if he had not been cleared of all the wrongful convictions that led to his spending 580 days in prison; and as if the judge who exonerated him had not instead ordered an investigation into the conduct of the corrupt lawfare judge who Bolsonaro made his justice minister for services rendered.
It took two full days for Bolsonaro to speak or even show his face in public after losing the election. Some of his most fanatical supporters, however, went into action right away, crying "fraud" and setting up illegal roadblocks around the country to press their demand for the military to intervene to prevent Lula from taking office. When Bolsonaro finally spoke on November 1, it was for less than three minutes, mainly to sympathize with the actions of his angry supporters. He said their "indignation" at the "injustices of the electoral process" was understandable and justified, but asked them to keep their protests "peaceful."
Regarding his own intentions, Bolsonaro spoke cryptically. He said those who call him anti-democratic are wrong, that he has always operated within the bounds of the constitution and would continue to follow all its "commandments." He did not, and still has not, conceded his defeat. It fell to his chief of staff, after Bolsonaro left the press conference without taking questions, to say that a transition process would take place with representatives of the next government. Vice president and retired Army General Hamilton Mourão also said not long afterwards that there was "no use crying anymore" and that there would be a peaceful transition. All of it suggests the country's military, and interests in the U.S. that were instrumental in putting Bolsonaro in power in 2018, and particularly now the Biden administration, were not ready to support a Trump-style coup attempt to keep him there.
Most of the roadblocks Bolsonaro supporters had erected were cleared within days after the Electoral Court ordered police to dismantle them and impose hefty fines on anyone who did not cooperate. Bolsonaro also sanctimoniously reminded his supporters not to interfere with the people's freedom of movement as that was "against the constitution." He did not, however, take issue with those who switched to holding large demonstrations outside military installations to urge the armed forces to stage a coup. Some participants in those actions were captured on film raising their arms in a Nazi salute as Brazil's national anthem was played.
The leadership of the armed forces did not take issue either with those calls to sedition raised on their doorstep. Instead, in an open letter issued on November 11 the commanders of the Army, Navy and Air Force mainly lectured the judicial and legislative branches of the government about their responsibility to uphold the people's constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms to protest "peacefully."
On November 23, the head of Brazil's Superior Electoral Court rejected the request submitted by Jair Bolsonaro and the Liberal Party the day before to annul all ballots cast on most of the electronic voting machines, which would have overturned the results of the October 30 election. The court refused, with the chief justice stating that "[t]he complete bad faith of the plaintiff's bizarre and illicit request ... was proven," citing among other things "the total absence of any evidence of irregularities and the existence of a totally fraudulent narrative of the facts."
He also ordered the suspension of government funds for the Liberal Party's coalition until a fine of 23 million reais (U.S.$ 4.3 million) for bad faith litigation is paid.
Challenges Facing the New Government and People
Among the challenges Lula and his government now face is having to govern without a majority in either house of the National Congress and navigating the complexities of being a broad front/coalition government. They and the organized Brazilian people will also have to remain vigilant and ready to deal with whatever the forces of retrogression might try, even if rejecting the results of the election is not on their agenda for the time being.
Pressures of all kinds can be expected to come from the U.S. as it strives to maintain its global dominance, drawing as many countries as it can into its economic and military wars against old and new enemies and pushing those it calls its "partners" to meddle in the affairs of other countries that have never done them any harm. This is particularly pertinent at the present time as the U.S. and Canada are on the hunt for "partner" countries to lead and/or provide troops for the new intervention force they want to impose on Haiti allegedly to combat armed gangs there - a role Brazil already played from 2005 until 2017 commanding the UN military and police mission known as MINUSTAH which Haitians condemned as a brutal and illegitimate foreign occupation force. The people expect the new government's international relations to be consistent with Latin America and the Caribbean being a zone of peace by strictly adhering to the principles of non-intervention in the affairs of sovereign countries and the right to self-determination of nations and peoples.
Bringing about the transformation of the country and Brazilian society was addressed by Lula in his speech on election night. Lula acknowledged that Brazilians want not just to elect those who will govern them, but to participate actively in decision-making.
The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) extends congratulations to Lula and the Brazil of Hope Federation and the other political parties and social movements that worked together to ensure Bolsonaro's defeat and Lula's election. Congratulations as well to the Brazilian people who, despite the many obstacles thrown in their way, delivered the historic victory of October 30. CPC(M-L) along with the Canadian working class and people can be counted on to stand with them and their new government as they take up the challenge of rebuilding Brazil, defending its sovereignty and waging the necessary battles for democracy and progress.
For the text of Lula's election night speech click here.
(With files from Brasilwire, CNN, Associated Press, Folha de São Paulo, Wikipedia)
This article was published in
Volume 52
Number 11 - November 2022
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2022/Articles/M5201111.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca