October 04, 2022

Indigenous, trans and black candidates oppose Brazil’s far-right

topic:	Election
located:	Brazil
editor:	Ellen Nemitz

The most important day for Brazilian democracy revealed, on one hand, a strong support for the conservative political platform and, on the other, the slow - but important - advance of representatives of social and environmental rights. For the presidential dispute, the former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Lula) obtained more than 48 percent of votes in the first round, held last Sunday 2 October. Contrary to last minute polls, however, the current far-right president Jair Bolsonaro significantly advanced and achieved nearly 43 percent of votes. Both will now dispute the run-off on 30 October.

Brazil is divided. With a few exceptions in the North, Bolsonaro wins, basically, in the wealthiest states in the South and Southeast, as well as the the agribusiness centre in the West. Meanwhile, the Northeast, traditionally inclined to leftism, decisively helped Lula - this region of Brazil, the poorest and least developed, historically suffers from xenophobia from countryfellows and, after the results, was once again victim of violent comments on social media.

Aside from the presidential results, however, the legislative elections ended with a clear message: even if Lula wins, he will need to administrate with a strong opposition. Some of the results were unexpected. Just one week before the elections, Deutsche Welle reported the supposed weakening of the "right-wing wave that swept 2018 elections," indicating that candidates supported by Bolsonaro should probably lose according to the polls. 

Everything changed in a matter of days. Candidates aligned to the ultra-conservative sectors of politics won important spaces in the Senate. Some highlightable names are the former judge and later Bolsonaro's minister Sergio Moro and others, such as the evangelical Damares Alves, and the former-Minister of Agriculture Tereza Cristina, as well as Vice-President Hamilton Mourão. For the National Deputies Chamber, the former-Minister of the Environment, Ricardo Salles, who contributed to the dismantling of environmental protection, won a seat representing the State of São Paulo. The final balance is positive for the conservatives: right parties will have the majority of seats both in the National Deputies Chamber and in the Senate.  

Nonetheless, environmental and human rights' defenders still celebrated some important advances. Two indigenous leaders were elected as federal deputies and will represent these peoples: Sonia Guajajara and Célia Xakriabá. The Brazil's Indigenous People Articulation (Apib) highlighted the strength of women in power: "A historic result for the indigenous movement, the election of two indigenous candidates to the Federal Chamber marks a new moment in national politics with greater representation of traditional peoples and the possibility of establishing new milestones for the culture of formulating the policies that dictate the course of the country," reads the note published after the results.

Also notable was the election of trans candidates - Erika Hilton (also a black woman) and Duda Salabert will speak up for their States in Brazil's capital city, Brasilia. "This year we went from a situation where there were no trans representations in the Federal Chamber to two extremely qualified and powerful ones. A still low number, but extremely representative and powerful," assessed the National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals (Antra).

Image by Matheus Câmara da Silva

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