Kerlin Ferreira, 29, works at Made in Brazil, which sells products from the immigrants’ homeland and is a Bolsonaro supporter. He laughs when we ask him to comment on the vote in Portugal:
“I was surprised, I did not expect it, completely different from the mood in the year of the election of Bolsonaro.” It was in 2018, when the current Brazilian president won 65% of the vote in the second round. Now expect a “turnaround” on October 30.
He has lived in Portugal for 11 years and has dual nationality. He waited almost two and a half hours to vote, more than an hour to find the line at the law faculty, where the polling stations were installed in Lisbon. It was the first time he voted, before he hadn’t been able to “transfer the title” because he failed the election and provided no justification. Voting in Brazil is mandatory for everyone between the ages of 18 and 70.
On his last vacation in Fortaleza, his hometown, Kerlin managed to get the biomedical registration done and transfer it to Portugal. It is seen in Bolsonaro’s current thinking, namely against abortion and “gender ideology.” “I respect homosexuals, but I am against marrying them.”
Rosana Medina, 28, arrived five months ago, just before the last day to register (May 4) and did not vote, she presented her motivation. If I did it would have been in Lula da Silva. “I agree with the policy he is defending, for us Brazilians it is more beneficial for him to be president. I liked that he won here, like he won in Brazil.”, refers. He worked in a pharmacy, as an immigrant, he works with the public in a household and toy store.
Carlos Vianna, director of Casa do Brasil, justifies that the change in voting intentions has to do with the new wave of Brazilians. “It’s a young immigration, a lot of students, it’s an enlightened population.” He believes that Casa do Brasil and other associations contributed to this vote. And he emphasizes that it also corresponds to the change in voting in his country, but with a greater expression.
According to the association 32,817 Brazilians voted in Portugal – one ballot box was yet to be determined – of which 21,586 for Lula and 11,271 for Bolsonaro. Faro noted the biggest difference. Bolsonaro received only 12.7% of the vote in 873.
A voice that surprised Everton Silva, 30, an Uber driver. He arrived seven years ago to visit his mother and stayed, returning to Brazil after the death of his father and returning already married. The 3-year-old son was born in Portugal. He was unable to finalize the documentation as he has failed to justify absences from previous elections, which his brother is trying to resolve in Brazil. Only you cannot renew your passport. If I had voted, it would have been for Bolsonaro. “Despite the nonsense he says, he has more work in these four years than the PT in 16. He managed to get basic sanitation to reach the entire Northeast, he made good roads to connect the Amazon, which is very important for the livestock.” Only the lack of security made him immigrate. “The peace with which I go to the garden, to the beach with my son at any time is priceless”.
The problem, Everton accuses, is that “the media is not announcing these improvements”. What is also not reported according to Cristina Gonçalves, 55 years old, unemployed, are the “real election results”, although he did not vote. He has been in Portugal for 16 years and has dual nationality. She is a supporter of Bolsonaro, especially when she condemns “Communist ideology and values”. She was disappointed with the mood.
He is suspicious of polls, but also of election results. “The governors who support him have won, in São Paulo, in Rio de Janeiro, and Jair Bolsonaro does not win? It is not just these elections that I support, I have thought this way about electronic voting, the long-term time,” Cristina says. It does not move, even if we mention that there are institutions that validate the results and that no problems have been detected in previous election acts. And in São Paulo there will have to be a second round.
Michel Borges, 38, who has been in Portugal for 18 years, with dual citizenship, was not surprised by the vote in this presidential election. I would vote for Lula too. “Bolsonaro doesn’t care about people, he only cares about him. What you have done in connection with the pandemic is unspeakable. I had covid, I know what I suffered, I lost friends. And the economy is much worse.”
She is a beautician, in Cascais, goes shopping at Vítor Cosmética, a store that seems to be the trend of the trade in the Arroios area. It belongs to João Carlos Pereira, 47 years old, he has also been in Portugal for 18 years and has dual nationality. It’s not about politics. “Win one or the other, what I know is that I have to work the next day”.
The second round, on October 30, believes Lula’s supporters will confirm the first’s victory. Bolsonaro’s supporters expect a turnaround as long as “the results are real”, they justify.
Carlos Vianna believes in Lula’s return to Brazil’s presidency, but notes that Bolsonaro won a major victory in the governors’ vote. “Lula only needs 2.6% of the vote, which he will certainly be able to get from the supporters of Simone Tebet and Ciro Gomes, who belong to parties with a history and not invented like Bolsonaro’s. These voters mostly migrate to Lula da Silva, at least half and 3.5%. Lula’s voters will stay, they’re very reliable, it’s a consolidated vote.”
Source: DN
