Brazil is on the brink of an electoral explosion
As the second round of Brazil’s presidential election takes place this weekend, Sunday is considered the most important day in Latin American politics in 2022. The competition between Bolsonaro, Brazil’s far-right president, and his leftist rival Lula da Silva, who has served two terms as president of Brazil, has become extremely close and sensitive.
While in the first round of the election it was thought, and polls indicated, that Lula would win by surpassing fifty percent of the votes, the election went to a second round. Bolsonaro, echoing the Trump phenomenon of 2020, received more votes than all estimates predicted.
Now, polls, which Bolsonaro’s supporters and he himself cast doubt upon, all indicate that the votes of both sides are getting extremely close. Lula’s greatest lead over Bolsonaro is no more than two or three percent. This means that the former president, even if he wins in an extremely close race, will succeed, and the serious danger of this result is that it sets the stage for Bolsonaro’s electoral coup.
Bolsonaro, who is a friend and ally of Donald Trump, has repeatedly cast doubt on Brazil’s electoral structure and spoken of not accepting the results. He even said in one of his speeches that he would either be arrested, die, or win.