REPORTAGE. The former Brazilian president wins after an ultra-tight ballot against the far-right outgoing Jair Bolsonaro. The country is cut in two.
By Sarah Cozzolino, in Rio de Janeiro
© CARL DE SOUZA / AFP
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“Jair, it’s time to leave”, repeat in chorus the voters of Lula on the square of Cinelandia, which has become a red tide in the center of Rio de Janeiro. Sunday, October 30, the city looked like a carnival, after the victory of the candidate of the Workers’ Party in the second round of the presidential election in Brazil. A “liberation” for Maria de Carvalho: “We couldn’t take any more of this toxic waste”, she shouts in reference to outgoing far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, while miming suffocation.
The musician confides that she felt “totally panicked” during the counting. Because, as in the first round, the polls had not predicted such a tight score between the two candidates: about two million votes difference, out of a total of 156 million voters, including 30 million abstainers.
“It’s the victory of a huge democratic movement,” said Lula, who promised to govern for “all Brazilians” after a turbulent day. His party denounced the attitude of the federal traffic police, who had set up filter barriers in certain states, making it difficult to access polling stations during the day. The regions most affected were in the Nordeste, the electoral stronghold of the former president. A situation deemed “inadmissible” by Lula.A Brazil cut in two
The victory of the left-wing candidate sounds the “return of humanity in the face of barbarism” for Ricardo Santos, 57. This actor attended the counting from his home and says that he “put on a red T-shirt and ran into the street” when the results were announced. But despite the relief, Thiago Gomes recognizes that the next few months and even the next few years will not be easy for the former metalworker. “We will have to rebuild a country that was destroyed by Jair Bolsonaro”, regrets this entrepreneur who underlines that Lula will have a “great responsibility”, that of reconciling a Brazil cut in two. The last four years have seen Brazilian families divided over the place of religion, armaments, or environmental protection.
READ ALSOLula-Bolsonaro: moment of truth for Brazil
But the fall of Jair Bolsonaro does not sound the fall of Bolsonarism, this “package of tragedies” according to Thiago. Yolanda Machado believes that Bolsonarism is “a monster that we are going to have to fight for a long time”. Because it has become “an idea that will have a legacy”, according to this transgender woman, who says she has suffered violent discrimination in the street for the past four years. This year, the extreme right of Jair Bolsonaro and his allies won important victories in senatorial, legislative and regional elections. Even if Jair Bolsonaro gives way to Lula, he will therefore have to deal with the center and the right.
Anger in the bolsonarist camp
In front of the former residence of Jair Bolsonaro, in the affluent district of Barra da Tijuca, the mines darken as the sun goes down. The songs in favor of the president have gradually given way to desperate prayers. “We won’t leave them Brazil,” shouts an activist on a tank at the end of the evening, with a jersey in the colors of the Brazilian flag. But very quickly, disappointment gives way to anger.
“I feel betrayed,” says Carmela Zanini, in her sixties. Like all Jair Bolsonaro voters present this evening, she is convinced that if her candidate did not emerge victorious from the elections, it is because he was the victim of electoral fraud. “Unfortunately, we cannot prove it, regrets Fernando Berg. Except that the people will not accept it, warns this retiree. We still have two months of government, under the command of Jair Bolsonaro, and a lot of things can still happen. »
Jair Bolsonaro, yet usually not very discreet, went to bed without a word this Sunday evening, leaving his supporters orphans. “I will do what he tells us,” assures an activist who does not prefer to give her name. From a tank, a voter advocates a “peaceful but not passive” attitude. That of the president, in the coming days, will be decisive.