Brazil - Far-Right Candidate Leads Presidential Election Polls

Though it is still early days, Brazil (still the most populous nation in South America) is going through a quiet revolution.

After the imprisonment of former President Lula da Silva (who was leading the presidential election polls until that moment), no one really could forecast who would win. Now, a few months before the actual event, it would seem the younger generations are flocking to the far-right candidacy of Jair Bolsonaro.

Related coverage: https://thegoldwater.com/news/22641-Brazil-Former-President-Lula-Surrenders-To-Police-To-Begin-12-Year-Prison-Sentence

Mr. Bolsonaro, a former army captain who has declared ‘open season on criminals’ should he be elected, is often compared to a mixture of the US’s President Donald Trump and the Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Polls for President (Brazil): far-right Jair Bolsonaro remains in 1st. He has a max potential of 50.4% in comparison to Marina Silva&#39;s (green) 48.5% and the former Supreme Court judge Joaquim Barbosa&#39;s 54.5% – all anti-mainstream candidates. 61.2% rejects whoever Lula supports. <a href="https://t.co/L39cNuvODx">pic.twitter.com/L39cNuvODx</a></p>&mdash; João Victor Guedes-Neto (@victorguedes) <a href="https://twitter.com/victorguedes/status/992223398469296130?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">4 May 2018</a></blockquote>

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Because of his extreme views on women, gays, and crime, he was often overlooked for serious politics but due to the rising crime figures in the country and the successive leftwing presidents convicted for fraud and corruption, the younger generation flocks to the far-right apparently, desperate for change.

Related coverage: https://thegoldwater.com/news/24709-Brazil-People-Trapped-As-Inferno-Collapses-Sao-Paolo-Tower-Video

There seems to be an undercover belief among Brazilian youth that the mostly leftwing institutions such as schools and ministries, which have been flocked with socialist cronies, are not telling the truth about how well the military dictatorships of the 1970s and 1980s were able to eradicate crime.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Have a look at that face. It is the face of fascism. <a href="https://t.co/cnhkm8jKHA">https://t.co/cnhkm8jKHA</a></p>&mdash; Leonard Benardo (@leonardbenardo1) <a href="https://twitter.com/leonardbenardo1/status/992341573408100352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">4 May 2018</a></blockquote>

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

This subculture and conspiracy belief is playing into Mr. Bolsonaro’s favor, who currently leads the polls among a large field of candidates with some 17 to 21%. More importantly, some 60% of his voters are the under 35-year-old or the millennial generation of Brazilians.

Via Whatsapp, Twitter and other forms of social media, he has been able to capture a large audience and is growing more popular by the minute.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Brazil News: Jair Bolsonaro leads new presidential poll. <a href="https://t.co/gUJCdpz5fX">https://t.co/gUJCdpz5fX</a> <a href="https://t.co/OUWnFnKTRD">pic.twitter.com/OUWnFnKTRD</a></p>&mdash; plotstation (@plotstation) <a href="https://twitter.com/plotstation/status/992175816736935936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">3 May 2018</a></blockquote>

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

A Brazilian singer named Maxwell Oliveira Queiroz who pledged his support for Bolsonaro explained: “In the streets, in the schools even, the Bandidos sell drugs and smoke marijuana openly, for that reason, it would be good to have military in the schools.”

“Bolsonaro is prepared to do that. And we believe in him.”

Source:

https://www.ft.com/content/fdbaaff8-4e89-11e8-a7a9-37318e776bab