Brazilian Presidential Candidates Prepare for Second-Round Election
This Sunday, October 30, Brazil heads to the polls for a second-round runoff between President Jair Bolsonaro and former President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva.
This Sunday, October 30, Brazil heads to the polls for a second-round runoff between President Jair Bolsonaro and former President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva.
Lapper’s Beef, Bible and Bullets provides an excellent guide through Brazil’s current political complexities and the man who would be Trump. It is strongly recommended.
Considering the level of passion from Bolsonaro supporters and the large number of Brazilians who dislike the president, Brazil could remain a highly polarized country and runs the risk of slipping into a political landscape where groups from the left and right express themselves more forcibly through non-constitutional means.
On Monday, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro met with foreign diplomats and sowed doubts about the country’s electronic voting system.
Gustavo Petro won the presidency. However, it should be well understood that a significant portion of the country did not want him to become president. This result does not give the new president a clear mandate to execute their policy without at least trying to address concerns from the other side.
Last Sunday, Colombians went to the polls to participate in parliamentary and presidential primary elections. Gustavo Petro won the leftwing Pacto Histórico primary with 4.4 million votes, the most in Colombian primary history.
This November, voters in five countries across Latin America head to the polls. In Chile, Argentina, and Honduras, the electorate will have an opportunity to choose from an array of candidates from different ideological backgrounds. In Nicaragua and Venezuela, free and fair elections are far from guaranteed.
There are over sixty—that’s right, 60—candidates competing to become Colombia’s president for the period from 2022 to 2026. Clearly not all of them are going to make it to the final ballot.
On August 21, Yasna Provoste won her country’s center-left primaries. But while Provoste has managed to dominate the Unidad Constituyente (UC) primaries, her prospects in the general election are less promising.