Brazil: facing a decisive second round

The Party of the European Left closely followed Brazil’s elections on October 4 at every level: the Chamber, the Senate, the state governorships, and the presidency. These elections matter greatly-both for Brazil’s own development, as South America’s largest country pursues a social and ecological transformation that meets the hopes of its more than 130 million people, and for the country’s standing in the world as a BRICS member, including its future relationship with the EU.

The presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro obtained in this first round the highest number of votes, followed with a difference of just over 2% by the current president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. None of the candidates has reached an absolute majority of the valid votes, so both will contest the Presidency of the Republic in a second round on October 25.

The result of this first round mirrors the depth of the political polarization that Brazil is going through and the strength that Bolsonarism retains four years after the electoral defeat of Jair Bolsonaro.

The second round will pit two profoundly different political projects against each other on issues central to the country’s future: the role of the state and public policies, social and labor rights, the response to inequalities, the defense of democratic institutions, and Brazil’s international orientation.

Recent experience also forces us to look at this election from a perspective that far exceeds the competition between two candidates. After the 2022 elections, Brazil suffered a serious democratic crisis that culminated on January 8, 2023 with the assault on the National Congress, the Federal Supreme Court and the Planalto Palace by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro – convicted for this. The defense of the democratic functioning of institutions and respect for the will expressed at the ballot box will therefore continue to be a fundamental issue throughout the electoral process.

During the current mandate, Brazil has once again placed the fight against hunger and poverty, the recovery of wages and labour rights and the reduction of inequalities among the priorities of public action. At the same time, the country has regained an autonomous international role, strengthening Latin American integration, South-South cooperation, the BRICS and the defence of a multilateral international order.

The international dimension of these elections is particularly important. Brazil is not only the largest economy in Latin America, but also one of the main actors in the Global South and a country with real capacity to intervene in the transformation of the international system. Its position on peace, multilateralism, national sovereignty, Latin American integration and North-South relations has consequences far beyond its borders.

From Europe we must also pay special attention to what is happening. The growth of national-conservative and radical right-wing forces is a phenomenon that crosses continents and that develops in societies marked by inequality, precariousness, material insecurity, distrust of institutions and fear of an increasingly uncertain future.

For the Party of the European Left, responding to this reality requires defending democratic institutions, but also addressing their material roots. A solid democracy needs to guarantee decent work, labour rights, public services, housing, health, education and real future prospects for the social majorities.

The second round on October 25 will therefore be a moment of enormous importance for Brazil and will have consequences for the whole of Latin America and for the international political balance.

The Party of the European Left will closely follow the development of the electoral process and reaffirms its political commitments to democracy, social and labour rights, equality, the sovereignty of peoples, Latin American integration, peace and the construction of an international order based on multilateralism and cooperation.

Likewise, we maintain our relationship of solidarity and cooperation with the comrades of the PT and  the Brazilian Trade Unions and social forces with whom we share similar positions on these principles and objectives. We trust and express our expecations the second round will take place with full democratic guarantees and absolute respect for the will of the Brazilian people.

The future of Brazil belongs exclusively to the Brazilian people. The Party of the European Left rejects any form of political, economic or diplomatic pressure aimed at conditioning the popular will, in the face of the threats, pressures and denunciations of possible attempts at external interference that have accompanied this electoral process — and particularly in the face of the concerns expressed in Brazil regarding certain activities by the United States Administration. Brazil is not the backyard of any power. Its sovereignty, its democratic institutions and the decision freely adopted by the Brazilian people at the polls must be scrupulously respected.