Jair Bolsonaro, the right-wing candidate, topped the first round of Brazilian general elections. With a score of 46.06%, Bolsonaro is ahead of the candidate of the Worker’s Party of Lula, Fernando Hadad who gets 29.3% of the votes.

Characterized by racist, misogynistic and homophobic positions, Jair Bolsonoro focused his campaign on security and anti-corruption issues, lulled by a nostalgia for the military dictatorship of the 1970s. The Worker’s Party (PT) in power for 12 years failed to mobilize and overcome the imprisonment of Luiz Ignacio Lula for corruption cases and who was the only candidate that could gather enough Brazilians to counter the far right. The two candidates will continue their campaign until the second round of elections on October 28, during which time Bolsonaro will have to confront the debates he has so far avoided. This election, particularly polarizing for the Brazilians and placed under the sign of the fake news, can yet still be surprising.

Cécile Wlodarczak

Source:

BBC News: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45780176?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/c4wq0zk0wq2t/brazil-general-elections-2018&link_location=live-reporting-story

For further informations:

Le Monde: https://www.lemonde.fr/ameriques/article/2018/10/08/ce-qu-il-faut-retenir-de-l-election-presidentielle-au-bresil_5366517_3222.html