After an absolutely wild campaign season, Brazilians go to the polls today to decide whether progressive candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva *Lula), or right-wing Flavio Bolsonaro, son of Jair Bolsonaro.
Flavio is favored heading into the polls, but Lula has picked up momentum since the first round. A legislative victory that reformed the Brazilian work-week was followed by an explosion of street campaigns that seem to be paying dividends.
The Stakes
There is a lot at stake: in terms of security policy, US influence, the future of the Amazon rain forest, and a whether or not the largest country in South America will buck a trend of right-wing victories in the region.
We spoke with Brazil historian Benjamin Fogel about Flavio’s ties to the milicias, or the right-wing mob, as well as his security policies for Pirate Wire Radio.
Benjamin has piece out this week in Jacobin about Lula’s last-minute surge in the campaign, as well as a sense among Brazilian progressives that today’s elections are do-or-die.
The campaign
The campaign has been plagued with scandal, controversy, US meddling, and all the drama a political junkie could ever want, though at times the candidates have preferred bluster and insult to policy details.
James Bosworth (Boz) has a debate-reaction piece that goes into some of the details of all of that, as well as how Flavio managed to create a meme that will likely haunt him for year.
Brazilian courts have been a target of US President Donald Trump for months, but evidence emerged in the last few weeks that Meta, and X were also putting their thumbs on the scale.
And while the White House hasn’t explicitly endorsed Flavio, they’ve made it very clear who Uncle Sam would prefer in office.
The stakes could not be higher. We will of course be covering the results tonight, after a power-nap until the afternoon.
Hasta muy pronto, piratas!
