Lula performs first great act in the electoral campaign while leading the polls

Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva, president of Brazil between 2003 and 2011, is crowned as the favorite on the way to reach the presidency of the South American country again in October. This Saturday, the Vale de Anhangabaú in São Paulo, a site of high political symbolism, was the scene of a rally to meet its potential voters.

Between harangues and banners, the candidate for the Workers’ Party (PT) attacked his opponent, saying: “Bolsonaro prepare. Don’t be afraid of Lula because it will be the people who are going to get him out of the Presidency.”

He also said that “there were many people who believed that Lula was dead, who believed that the left was dead,” from the scene of the largest demonstration that Brazil experienced against its last military dictatorship, between 1964 and 1985, today a large park where different popular demonstrations take place.

The electoral contest pits a nationalist populist with ideas backed by the evangelical conservative sector, against a former union leader and president of the country for two different terms.

Lula returned to the political scene more than a year ago, being the favorite among 10 candidates to once again be the guest of the Alvorada Palace. The most recent survey, published this Monday by the consulting firm Inteligência em Pesquisa e Consultoria Estratégica (IPEC), gave Lula a 44% favorability in the first round, compared to 32% for Bolsonaro, the second favorite.

In a possible second round, Lula would be elected with an advantage of 16 points, winning with 51%, compared to 35% of votes that Bolsonaro would have. Similarly, IPEC consulted Brazilians on the popularity of the current president, showing 57% disapproval of his management, against 37% approval.

Criticism of the Bolsonaro government

In this first major campaign act, Lula took the opportunity to criticize Bolsonaro, saying that the rates of poverty, inequality and hunger have increased during his term. For his part, he promised to develop policies to achieve greater social equality in Brazil.

“Today there are 33 million people who do not have anything to eat in Brazil, a country that is one of the largest food producers in the world and that has no explanation,” referring to recent reports published by local media, where people are seen taking out food of the rubbish.

During the same act held in the capital of São Paulo, the leader of the Brazilian left took the opportunity to respond to the “lies spread” through social networks by “Bolnarista groups”, which assure that, if he wins, Lula will close the churches.

However, he took advantage of the public’s attention to criticize the participation of churches in the contest, referring to the support of evangelical pastors for Bolsonaro’s campaign. In addition to saying that they are turning the churches into a political platform and defending secularism in government.

“That religious issue is so fashionable now. There is a lot of religious ‘fake news’ and a lot of the devil being treated like God and a lot of the devil making churches a political tribune,” he declared at the event, according to the Folha de São Paulo media outlet.

Bolsonaro also started his campaign

Almost parallel to Lula’s event, the representative for the Liberal Party was also the protagonist of a massive event held at the Black Needles Academy, the barracks where he trained as a soldier.

Hundreds of people passed in a motorcycle caravan in the state of Rio de Janeiro, in front of the Academy, to show their support for the current Brazilian president. There, the president spent about an hour greeting his followers along with other soldiers.

Bolsonaro, captain of the Army Reserve, led a graduation ceremony for new cadets, encouraging them to “give their lives for the country.” The far-right has accentuated his campaign in his military spirit, just as he did in the 2018 elections, which gave him victory.

At the ceremony, he was with General Walter Braga Netto, who accompanies him as a vice-presidential candidate on election day. The duo proposes a “conservative agenda” that bears the motto “God, Country and Family.”

Corruption, a hot topic in the campaign

Lula, 76, began his campaign this week outside the Volkswagen car factory, where he began his political struggle as a union leader in the 1970s and pushed for better wages for workers at the time of the war. repression, under the military dictatorship.

One of Lula’s greatest campaign promises is to fight corruption, however, it was this that landed him in prison for 18 months in 2018. The PT leader was sentenced to eight years in prison for a case of corruption and laundering of assets, while another 10 cases for the same crimes were investigated.

It was a very controversial case that ended with his release in 2019, when the Brazilian Supreme Court assured that the Constitution only allows a conviction when the accused has exhausted all his resources.

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Lula and his defense claimed to be victims of a political process, the case was opened just a few months before the 2018 elections, where the leftist was also the favorite. “They wanted to imprison an idea and ideas are not imprisoned,” Lula da Silva said after being released from prison.

With a polarization never seen before, Brazil will know the name of its new president in a little over a month.

On August 28, the first opportunity is expected for Lula and Bolsonaro to face each other in a debate with four other candidates: Labor Ciro Gomes, liberal Luiz Felipe d’Avila, right-wing Soraya Thronicke and centrist Simone Tebet. .

With Reuters and EFE