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- May 11, 2013
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(The Guardian) In his blistering political journals, the celebrated novelist Ricardo Lísias has excoriated the “Brazilian catastrophe” that has unfolded under its far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro. At nine minutes past eight on Sunday morning, the 47-year-old writer got his chance to help remove that catastrophe from power.
“He is a filthy, abhorrent person … He disgusts me,” Lísias said as he prepared to cast his vote for Brazil’s former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, at a university near his home in São Paulo. “Bolsonaro is an unsurpassable historic mistake and he must be stopped,” Lísias said as the sun beat down on the tree-lined streets of Brazil’s largest city.
Lísias was far from the only person harbouring such feelings as 156 million Brazilians took part in a momentous election that will have profound implications for the future of one of the world’s biggest democracies, the Amazon rainforest and the climate emergency. “I’ve never voted for Lula before. I never agreed with his ideas. But Bolsonaro is someone with whom I have absolutely nothing in common, not even as a human being,” said Marcelo Pessuto, a 37-year-old actuary who had also come to vote for Lula.
Pessuto called himself a centrist and said economically his ideas were closer to those of the pro-business Bolsonaro. However, the president’s homophobic, hate-filled rhetoric had convinced him that Bolsonaro had to go. “I don’t want to live in this kind of country … Sometimes we even think about leaving,” he said.
Gabriele Tissot Zappalá, a 23-year-old nursing technician, said Bolsonaro’s negligent and denialist handling of the Covid pandemic, which has killed nearly 700,000 Brazilians, had persuaded her to back Lula, the leftist Worker’s party (PT) candidate, who governed from 2003-11.
“I’ve never been a PT member, but I have chosen my side because I’m against Bolsonaro,” said Zappalá, who came to vote in a red T-shirt bearing the slogan “Anti-fascist Social Club”. “Anyone is better than Bolsonaro,” agreed her father, Attilio, who had also voted for the 77-year-old former union leader.
Election eve polls suggested Lula has an advantage of between four and eight percentage points over his rival and is likely, but not certain, to prevail when the results are announced on Sunday evening.
“He is a filthy, abhorrent person … He disgusts me,” Lísias said as he prepared to cast his vote for Brazil’s former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, at a university near his home in São Paulo. “Bolsonaro is an unsurpassable historic mistake and he must be stopped,” Lísias said as the sun beat down on the tree-lined streets of Brazil’s largest city.
Lísias was far from the only person harbouring such feelings as 156 million Brazilians took part in a momentous election that will have profound implications for the future of one of the world’s biggest democracies, the Amazon rainforest and the climate emergency. “I’ve never voted for Lula before. I never agreed with his ideas. But Bolsonaro is someone with whom I have absolutely nothing in common, not even as a human being,” said Marcelo Pessuto, a 37-year-old actuary who had also come to vote for Lula.
Pessuto called himself a centrist and said economically his ideas were closer to those of the pro-business Bolsonaro. However, the president’s homophobic, hate-filled rhetoric had convinced him that Bolsonaro had to go. “I don’t want to live in this kind of country … Sometimes we even think about leaving,” he said.
Gabriele Tissot Zappalá, a 23-year-old nursing technician, said Bolsonaro’s negligent and denialist handling of the Covid pandemic, which has killed nearly 700,000 Brazilians, had persuaded her to back Lula, the leftist Worker’s party (PT) candidate, who governed from 2003-11.
“I’ve never been a PT member, but I have chosen my side because I’m against Bolsonaro,” said Zappalá, who came to vote in a red T-shirt bearing the slogan “Anti-fascist Social Club”. “Anyone is better than Bolsonaro,” agreed her father, Attilio, who had also voted for the 77-year-old former union leader.
Election eve polls suggested Lula has an advantage of between four and eight percentage points over his rival and is likely, but not certain, to prevail when the results are announced on Sunday evening.
