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BRAZIL-VOTE-CANDIDATES
Ultraconservative leads pack vying to be Brazil’s next president
RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 5, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – When Brazilians go to the polls on
Sunday to choose their next president, one controversial figure will loom
over the pack of 13 candidates: Jair Bolsonaro, an ultraconservative former
military man promising a Donald Trump-like shakeup of Latin America’s biggest
economy.
Voter surveys credit him with such a substantial lead that he is expected
to go on to an October 28 run-off election against one of two trailing
rivals: a leftwinger selected to replace jailed ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula
da Silva as the Workers’ Party candidate, or a center-left politician ranked
with only an outside chance.
– Jair Bolsonaro –
Like Trump, Bolsonaro, 63, is fond of tough-guy talk eschewing political
correctness, using social media to bypass journalistic scrutiny, hailing
military men in government, looser gun laws, and projecting an image of an
outsider combatting a corrupt and incompetent elite.
But the comparison with the US leader is not entirely accurate: Bolsonaro
himself once served in the military as an army captain, is in fact a
longstanding member of Brazil’s congress, which he joined in 1991, and does
not have the backing of a major party.
Still, his shoot-from-the-lip style, vow to completely do over Brazil’s big
economy, and his polarizing effect on the electorate are what has grabbed the
attention.
Statements pillorying gays, denigrating women (he once told a female
leftist deputy “she doesn’t deserve to be raped because she’s very ugly”),
dismissing Brazil’s large poor black population, and advocating violence to
impose political views have engendered visceral opposition.
On September 6, he survived a stabbing while on the campaign trail by a man
police said acted alone and out of political motivation.
Yet investors have hopes that Bolsonaro, a Catholic father of five — born
from three relationships — who has close links to influential evangelical
churches, can hoist Brazil out of its economic malaise lingering nearly two
years after its worst-ever recession.
His only problem if he becomes president is the lack of legislative
support. His right-wing Social Liberal Party currently has just eight seats
in the 513-seat lower house and might at best only add a few more in Sunday’s
general election.
– Fernando Haddad –
Bolsonaro’s nearest rival is Fernando Haddad, whom the Workers’ Party
tapped recently to replace its preferred candidate, iconic ex-president Lula,
who was disqualified from a comeback bid because he is serving a 12-year
prison term for graft.
Channeling Lula’s popularity, 55-year-old Haddad climbed up the survey
rankings into second place. But the former mayor of Sao Paulo — Brazil’s
biggest city — and onetime education minister under Lula, has since stalled
and struggled to define his own profile.
Worse, he has to carry the baggage of the Workers’ Party years in power
that are blamed for Brazil’s economic mess and much of the corruption. It
hasn’t helped that Haddad, the son of a Lebanese immigrant, faced corruption
accusations linked to his campaign during municipal elections in 2012.
– Ciro Gomes –
Some see Ciro Gomes, a center-leftist who has made two failed presidential
attempts in the past, as someone capable of capturing the country’s huge
leftist vote.
Gomes, 60, is running with the Democratic Labor Party but has failed to
garner coalition support from other leftist parties, leaving him isolated.
He is seen as a volatile personality with a history of lashing out in
colorful language at everyone from Lula and outgoing President Michel Temer
to the country’s police.
He has also failed to attract many of Lula’s supporters, leaving him a
distant third behind Haddad.
BSS/AFP/MRI/0827 hrs