The first round of general elections is underway in Brazil, Das Erste reports. According to almost all opinion polls, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is well ahead of his opponent, incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro. The latter, however, has been sowing doubt about the credibility of the polls, the media and the electoral system for months. The situation is tense: Brazilians fear a repeat of the storming of the U.S. Capitol at home.
If you walk past the "democracy booth" in Largo do Machado square in Rio de Janeiro, it might seem that the elections are "in the pocket" for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. "In the last few days the demand for da Silva has increased considerably, for Bolsonaro it has remained the same. Demand for Lula has increased from 30 to 50 a day, an increase of 20 a day," said kiosk owner Jefferson Ferreira. He sells towels in yellow and green with the image of incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro - and in red with the image of former President da Silva, a candidate of the leftist Workers' Party. For clarity, he marks the number of goods sold on a small board, writes Das Erste.
He calls his statistics Data-Toalha (Toalha means "towel" in Portuguese. - InoTV) - similar to Data-Folha, the most authoritative public opinion research institute in the country. According to the kiosk owner, the data from this institute are just as susceptible to manipulation as his own. "There are a lot of leftists living in the neighborhood here, and they certainly buy da Silva. And the same thing happens in the media. Now everyone is saying that Lula will win the election. It will be the other way around. Bolsonaro will be re-elected," Ferreira believes.
"Who believes the numbers?" - is the key question of the election race in Brazil. According to almost all opinion polls, Lula is far ahead of Bolsonaro. The latter, however, has been sowing doubt about the reliability of the polls, the media and the electoral system for months. "Look at this huge sea of people in yellow and green. This is not a lying Data-Folha, here you see the data of the people, here is the truth," Bolsonaro told tens of thousands of supporters on Brazil's Independence Day in early September.
Many of his supporters are convinced that if Bolsonaro is defeated, there will definitely be fraud behind it. Experts have been confirming for days that the electronic ballot boxes in Brazil are reliable. But distrust is already sown, also because Bolsonaro declared the election "a struggle between good and evil": "On the one hand, a man who defends families, God and the country, on the other hand, Lula is the greatest thief in the history of Brazil.
Lula led Brazil from 2003 to 2010. Those were the "golden years," with a booming economy. At the same time, corruption flourished, including within da Silva's own party. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison as a result of a controversial trial. All court decisions were later ruled illegal. Lula always insisted on his own innocence. To his opponents he always remained a grey cardinal. The only question was whether he could get the doubters on board.
During his last speech in Rio de Janeiro, he appealed to supporters: "Go to the people who doubt and talk to them about the importance of this election for our democracy. But don't try to turn a Vasco da Gama fan into a Flamengo fan, it's useless. You know we can't change the minds of Bolsonaro's fanatics. Don't give in to provocations either. Convince those who don't want to vote that our country is at stake.
Is there really something fundamental at stake? Will chaotic scenes like the storming of the Capitol in Washington follow in the event of a possible Bolsonaro defeat? The situation is tense, there have even been fatal attacks.
In any case, Bolsonaro "keeps pouring oil on the fire." "It is necessary that we fight the da Silva gang. We will fight. And I repeat: An armed people cannot be enslaved," he said during a speech in the state of São Paulo a few days ago.
Before the "kiosk of democracy," its owner has to settle disputes, but this is rather rare. Above all, he hopes that the decision will not be made in the first round - another four weeks of the election race will not hurt business, Das Erste reports.
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