In Brazil, the runoff election for the presidency began today. The ultra-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro of the Social Liberal Party (PSL) is the favorite. In the first ballot on October 7, he came to 46 percent of the vote, his competitor Fernando Haddad of the Workers Party (PT) to 29 percent. The latest polls predict Bolsonaro 55 and Haddad 45 percent.
After a tense election campaign, around 147 million voters are called upon to appoint a new head of state for Latin America’s largest and most populous country. The ex-military provokes again and again with failures against women, blacks and homosexuals as well as with his sympathy for the military dictatorship (1964 to 1985). However, he benefits from the anger of many Brazilians over the recent corruption scandals and increasing violence.
Haddad, former mayor of Sao Paulo, is standing as a replacement candidate of the Workers‘ Party for former incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has been imprisoned for corruption. This had originally been considered as the most promising presidential candidate.
