Presidential candidates began campaigning on the streets across Brazil this Sunday (16), the first day allowed under the Electoral Justice calendar.
Under the Elections Law and resolutions of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), campaign activities are permitted until October 3, one day before the first round. Rallies may be held between 8 a.m. and midnight until October 1.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT)
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva officially began his bid for a fourth term at a rally at Vila Euclides Stadium in São Bernardo do Campo, in the São Paulo metropolitan area.
“Starting today, we won’t sleep properly again until October 5. Every one of our activists needs to be ready to compare what we have done with what the others have done,” he told a packed stadium, urging supporters to take an active part in the campaign.
The site was chosen because of its connection to Lula’s political history. The venue hosted assemblies of metalworkers from the ABC industrial region, including major strikes in 1979 that put pressure on a military dictatorship already showing signs of weakness.
The event outlined key campaign themes, emphasizing the defense of sovereignty, social issues and disputes with right-wing parties over issues such as women’s roles and differing approaches to public safety.
In his seventh presidential campaign, Lula said that “for as long as I live, I will not allow a right wing responsible for the deaths of children without medicine and the deaths of 400,000 people without vaccines to return.”
The rally provided a platform for politicians from other states, with party members from every region attending. Benedita da Silva, who is running for the Senate in Rio de Janeiro, represented candidates for legislative office.
On public safety, he defended proposals already underway, including a public security ministry and the possible passage of legislation against organized crime, highlighting the importance of pursuing those who profit most from crime.
Flávio Bolsonaro (PL)
Flávio Bolsonaro launched his presidential campaign on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro. The location has hosted a series of pro-Bolsonaro demonstrations in recent years, including protests against the imprisonment of former president Jair Bolsonaro for an attempted coup d’état.
Flávio climbed onto a sound truck at around 11:30 a.m., wearing a T-shirt reading “My Party Is Brazil” in the colors of the national flag. He was accompanied by his running mate Alfredo Gaspar, his mother Rogéria, who is also a candidate, and his wife Fernanda.
Flávio played recordings of his father reflecting on family after the attack he suffered and promised to carry forward the legacy of the president who governed Brazil between 2019 and 2022.
“I know I look like him [Jair, because of their physical resemblance]. But it’s hard to compare Pelé’s son with Pelé,” Flávio told thousands of people gathered on the beach at the beginning of his speech.
The candidate defended his father and said Jair had been unjustly imprisoned. He promised, if elected, to appoint the next four justices to the Federal Supreme Court (STF), choosing from “men and women.” The court currently has only one woman, Justice Cármen Lúcia.
Public safety was among the speech’s main subjects. Flávio promised to designate militias and drug-trafficking organizations as “terrorists,” lower the age of criminal responsibility, tackle robbery and theft, and reduce Brazil’s high femicide rates.
On the economy, he criticized the country’s high interest rate, with the Selic benchmark at 14% per year, and promised to ease inflation for the middle class. He proposed sweeping cuts in his first days in office, including cuts to spending and government posts.
Ronaldo Caiado (PSD)
Presidential candidate Ronaldo Caiado (PSD) chose to launch his campaign in Goiás, the state he governed from 2019 until March this year and where opinion polls show him leading in voter preference.
Accompanied by supporters, he traveled through municipalities in Goiás surrounding the Federal District. He visited Águas Lindas de Goiás, Santo Antônio do Descoberto, Novo Gama, Valparaíso and Cidade Ocidental, ending the event in Luziânia.
Caiado, who says he is running this year “to remove the PT from power,” said he will not support President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is seeking reelection, if he does not reach the second round. His position contradicts a statement by PSD president and Caiado’s running mate Gilberto Kassab, who said on Saturday that the parties of the so-called Centrão bloc “are with Lula.”
The former governor of Goiás said he is the only Brazilian politician holding elected office who has never supported Lula. He added that in the first round voters will choose which opposition candidate will face the incumbent president in the runoff.
“There’s no point in fielding an [opposition] candidate who, once he gets there, will have to spend his time explaining his own problems. That candidate won’t win the election,” Caiado said when journalists asked him about Flávio Bolsonaro’s (PL) candidacy, which polls place ahead of Caiado nationwide.
Caiado said his administration in Goiás had delivered improvements in public safety, education and health. He stressed the importance of voters examining candidates’ proposals to promote budgetary responsibility and fiscal balance.
Romeu Zema (Novo)
Romeu Zema, the Novo Party’s presidential candidate, traveled to Montes Claros in northern Minas Gerais to begin his presidential campaign this Sunday.
He attended Mass at the parish of Nossa Senhora da Conceição e São José. He then had lunch with candidates from his party running for seats in the Chamber of Deputies.
In a speech in the city, the former Minas Gerais governor criticized the Lula administration and said he believes he will reach the election’s second round. Zema advocated policies on public safety and combating corruption.
“What I did here [in Montes Claros], I will do in Brazil. No stealing, no corruption, and with competent people,” he said.
Renan Santos (Missão)
Renan Santos, the Missão party candidate, held his first campaign event at Largo São Francisco in downtown São Paulo.
The event was attended by federal lawmaker Kim Kataguiri, former state lawmaker Arthur do Val, Amanda Vettorazzo and other supporters.
Santos criticized welfare dependency and discussed entrepreneurship, public safety and other issues on his campaign platform.
“We are here to write our names into history as the generation that changed the destiny of one of the world’s greatest nations,” he told the audience.
Augusto Cury (Avante)
Augusto Cury, of the Avante party, also began his presidential campaign this Sunday.
He was in Santa Luzia, in the Belo Horizonte metropolitan area of Minas Gerais, where he defended his governing program and cited projects he intends to implement in health care. The candidate promised that his administration would “listen to people.”
Speaking to the press and the public, Cury described how he views Brazilian politics today:
“We are not in two boats, right and left, left and right. We are all in one boat called the Brazilian family. Whoever steers that boat must do so responsibly.”
Hertz Dias (PSTU)
A public-school teacher and Black movement activist, PSTU candidate Hertz Dias walked with party members and supporters along Avenida Paulista in São Paulo and through streets in São José dos Campos, in the state’s interior.
The socialist presented one of his main policy proposals to voters he spoke with: returning the country’s strategic companies to state ownership.
“Brazil produces immense wealth. The problem is that this wealth is in the hands of a minority of bankers, multinational [companies] and major business owners,” said the candidate from Maranhão.
Dias said his campaign stands with workers, who produce all the country’s wealth, and proposed building an alternative to the concentration of wealth that imposes sacrifices on the majority.
Other candidates
In São Paulo, Samara Martins, from Popular Unity (UP), held a campaign launch event with party activists.
Edmilson Costa, of the PCB, is taking part in a livestream on his YouTube channel this Sunday evening.
The following candidates did not release schedules for Sunday: Clariana Barão, of DC; Rui Costa Pimenta, of PCO; Wilson Grassi, of Democrata; and Pablo Marçal, of PRTB.
Source: Agência Brasil
Leave a Reply