It was going to be a celebration, or not less than that was the plan, and whilst we drove in direction of the hundreds of Lula supporters who had taken over a sq. in downtown Rio de Janeiro, we may hear the cheers and shouting from bars and cafes overflowing with folks – and workers struggling to serve meals and beer.
Election programmes on televisions beamed the newest outcomes into the road social gathering, each win for his or her man was greeted with cheers and singing.
But slowly at first, they started to understand that the right-wing vote was holding up higher than anticipated.
The polls steered President Jair Bolsonaro was greater than 14 factors off his left-wing rival – that’s not the way it turned out.
Celebrations right here have been placed on maintain.
The consensus now’s that the struggle should proceed for an additional spherical on the finish of the month.
We met 25-year-old Thayane Massopust standing exterior a restaurant, nervously watching the TV display.
“I think, in my opinion, that if Lula goes to the second round with Bolsonaro, we’re going to win, I’m not afraid of the second round,” she advised me.
Another supporter, Bernardo Costa, was slightly extra involved although, saying it is instantly grow to be that rather more unpredictable and Bolsonaro supporters may really feel they’ve momentum as a result of he did higher than anticipated.
“Yesterday we saw Lula winning the first round, and now we are kind of worried about it, that there will be a second round.”
Julia Borges, 23, appeared extra sanguine concerning the consequence.
“Oh, it’s very disappointing, but I still think we have a chance. It’s always been like this, there’s a history of going to second rounds in these kinds of elections,” she advised me.
“I think we don’t need to lose hope yet. The second round, I think it’s going to be positive for Lula, so maybe we just have to wait a little bit more.”
For Lilian Lobato, gathered within the sq. close to a bookstall together with her mates, she would not even wish to take into consideration one other 4 years of Bolsonaro.
“We need change, 100%, it’s just completely hopeless. I don’t know what we will do if Bolsonaro wins once again, it’s just like the worst scenario…”
President Bolsonaro benefited from the surprisingly weak performances of lesser-known presidential candidates.
He stays very a lot within the struggle. Rio is among the key centres on this election, and successful right here is significant.
It’s a celebration city for positive, however not as liberal as one may suppose if you look carefully.
More than 30% of Brazilians are evangelists, and most vote for Bolsonaro, which means he has a built-in constituency, which is a substantial place to begin.
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He can nearly assure they will end up once more.
“Nowadays, the leftist agenda has pulled in an enormity of values that go against biblical values, against the values of the church,” Pastor Pedro Correa defined to me earlier than the service began on the Baptist Church of Rio de Janeiro.
“Family, gender ideology, abortion, are non-negotiable values for the church. That is why President Bolsonaro has the sympathy of the evangelical people for the absolute values that he defends from the Bible,” he stated.
More than 115 million folks voted on this first spherical, and crucially vital for each candidates forward of the second spherical will probably be convincing voters who’re undecided.
They are those who may swing issues.
“I don’t like either of them because I don’t like Bolsonaro, because what he represents for the country is very bad, because he’s homophobic, he doesn’t like women and everything,” Roberta Malburg advised me whereas lining as much as vote.
“But Lula also was arrested, and I don’t like him as well. So that’s the choice.”
Lula was charged with corruption in 2018, a conviction that was later overturned by the Supreme Court and extensively seen as politically motivated.
The two frontrunners will start the week understanding they must marketing campaign arduous to get the vote out once more on the finish of the month.
The divisions on this nation have been laid naked once more.
And there may be nothing to counsel the weeks forward will probably be something however brutal.
Source: information.sky.com”