Workers’ Party Lula wins first round in Brazil

By Carla Meneghini Mendes Almeida October 2002

Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, former steelworker and union leader, will face José Serra, the outgoing government’s candidate and President Cardoso’s former Health Minister, in the second round of the Brazilian presidential elections on October 27. Lula gained 46.4% of the valid votes in the first round, while Serra received only 23.2%. Two other candidates, Anthony Garotinho and Ciro Gomes, gained 19% and 11% respectively.

Lula’s high vote was a major achievement for his Workers’ Party, who only gained 25% of votes in the three previous elections when they ran for the presidency. The Party leadership actually expected an outright win in the first-round, which would have required Lula to gain more than 50%, “My mate José Alencar [Lula’s deputy candidate ] likes to campaign so much that we had to postpone victory for another month,” joked Lula about not achieving the party’s goal.

The first round of voting on October 6 took place on a sunny Sunday. Instead of packing the beaches, 85 million citizens queued up to perform their civic duty. They were electing the next President, State Governors, two-thirds of the Senate and all 513 members of the lower house of Congress.

Some citizens were annoyed they were not outside enjoying the weather. “I think voting should be optional, so that I can be at the beach now,” said 22-year-old student Márcia Barros who was standing at the end of a 23 -long queue in one of the polling booths. But in most places there was an atmosphere of peace and excitement. In Rio de Janeiro, where drug dealers had terrorised local commerce a few days before polling, 48,000 soldiers and police were mobilised to protect the voters. Authorities said they had uncovered plans by gangs to disrupt voting but , with the help of the army, polling went smoothly.

This election had the most voters and candidates in Brazilian history and was the first to be completely computerized. Three hundred and fifty thousand electronic voting machines were used throughout the country, even in remote areas of the Amazon where they were taken by boat and powered by generators. With the electronic voting system, first implemented in 1994, voters use a keyboard to type the candidate or party’s number and a small screen shows the candidate’s full name, party, and a picture. The system has helped illiterate and semi-illiterate voters participate in the democratic process.

The high number of candidates and the unfamiliarity of some voters with the electronic ballot resulted in gigantic queues in most of the country. Voting was supposed to end at 5pm, but in some places, such as the Federal District, it resumed at 1am the following day.

Some Brazilians are clearly tired of President Cardoso’s free-market government policies and his inability to defeat corruption and unemployment during his second term. This year alone the Brazilian Real devalued 40%, and internal debt reached 60% of internal revenue. With the highest interest rate on the planet, the current government expected to attract international investors and help fund growth and pay debts.

But the financial markets turned against the Brazilian economy, subjecting it to any international crisis and making it virtually impossible for local businessmen to make loans to finance growth. “With complicated questions such as the interest rates we need a serious, responsible, daring leader who will fight for Brazil, and this leader is Lula,” said lawyer and writer Raymundo Faoro.

And Lula seems poised to win this time. The 57-year-old leftist abandoned his socialist speech and adopted a more moderate position for the election. He promised to abide by all Brazil’s international commitments and pay off investors, even the US$30 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund made by Cardoso’s government just two months before the election. Lula still preaches social reform, but at a slower pace, changing the radical persona that has scared voters for the past 12 years.

“I’ve known Lula for years and I know he is a great negotiator, a balanced man, and the Worker’s Party has gained maturity and form in recent years,” explained economist Luiz Gonzaga Belluzzo. The campaign was even joined by some businessmen such as electronics manufacturing company’s president, Eugenio Staub. “Lula will be able to unite businessmen, workers and the middle class to fight Brazil’s problems,” said Staub, “I’ve always voted for the Social Democracy Party and I like Serra, but I believe Lula has a more conciliating speech and better vision,” he adds.

But not all businessmen share Staub’s enthusiasm. The prospect of Lula winning left the financial markets in disarray. Speculators took the Brazilian currency to the lowest level in history, and the Central Bank recently raised the interest rate to a new record level of 21% to contain inflation.

Sixty-year-old José Serra, the government’s candidate, not only faces the failures of President Cardoso’s second term, but also lacks Lula’s charisma. Businessman Stefan Salej believes Serra was damaged by that attacks of other candidates on the current government. “The next president will need strong knowledge and solid experience to face the external and internal difficulties that lie ahead,” said Salej, “I will vote for Serra because of the excellent job he did in the Health Ministry.”

Serra, with an extensive resume as former health minister, planning minister, senator and congressman, is the investors’ candidate. There is no doubt that fears of a financial market collapse and the fall of the currency allowed Serra to reach the second round. But with the second round voting on October 27, only a few weeks away, Serra faces a Herculean task to more than double his first round vote. Lula’s victory appears a virtual certainty.

Carla Meneghini Mendes Almeida is completing her MA Journalism degree at UTS.