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There should be no foreign interference in Brazil’s elections
Fears that foreign interference in elections can override the democratic processes and the true choice of the people are causing concern.
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One of the most keenly watched elections will take place in Brazil on October 4. In particular, the Presidential contest is considered to be of great significance. These are going to be anxious times for Brazil. If neither candidate gets a clear 50% of the vote on October 4, there will be a run-off on October 25. During this difficult time, there are fears that foreign interference in elections can override the democratic processes and the true choice of the people. In particular, there are fears of US driven interference and more particularly Trump driven interference. President Trump is widely known to strongly favor the presidential ambitions of his favorite candidate, Flavio Bolsonaro, while while at the same time he is also known for his dislike of the left-oriented incumbent President Lula da Silva, with with whom he has had intense differences on issues ranging from tariffs and minerals to policies towards Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
More than policy differences, it is recent history that provides adequate evidence of the highly partisan role of the USA, which has only aggravated under Trump. The USA’s opposition to the presidency as well as the political party of Lula was evident when, much earlier, false allegations against Lula were whipped up to drive him out of power. On the other hand, a later President who has been very antagonistic towards Lula, Jair BolsonaroJair Messias BolsonaroFormer President of Brazil (2019-2022), right-wing politician known for controversial policies., was strongly supported by the USA despite his several well-known flaws. When in the 2022 election Lula won again, Jair led a coup attempt, which allegedly included attempts to seriously harm or even kill rivals, and ultimately failed. Jair Bolsonaro is now serving a 27-year jail term for this coup attempt. Trump opposed this trial and the resulting jail sentence, trying to help Bolsonaro in whatever way he could. The candidate opposing Lula now is a son of the jailed former President, Jair Bolsonaro. This candidate, Flavio Bolsonaro, has been projecting himself as the candidate with strong support from the USA and Trump. It is in this context that fears of foreign interference, particularly from the USA, or its allies, are causing concern, given the long history of the USA’s interference in the elections of other countries to help candidates and political parties supported by the USA and more likely to advance its interests.
Fears that things could turn nasty are based on recent realities: the coup attempt made after the 2022 election victory of Lula, which had allegedly included attempts to poison the newly elected President Lula and to also kill a senior judge, also saw Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters attacking state institutions.
The extent to which the Bolsonaro family can go to aggressively advance its narrow, selfish interests was also evident when the Trump administration slapped a 50% increase in tariffs on all imports to the USA from Brazil during the Lula’s latest presidency. Shockingly, well-informed observers related this to the ongoing investigations of the serious charges against Bolsonaro, which his supporters were trying to present as victimization and a violation of democratic norms, while in fact it was Jair Bolsonaro who was actually guilty of seriously violating democratic norms.
Why should not a country investigate such serious charges as a coup attempt, also involving attempts to murder? Why did Trump repeatedly express his admiration and concern for the key accused in such a serious case? Why did he inflict punishment in the form of much higher tariffs?
The USA never came to President Lula’s aid in his earlier tenure when he was falsely accused of corruption (the charges were later confirmed false and thrown out by the courts in the course of the legal process). This brings out the strong bias of the USA in opposing a left oriented President like Lula while going out of its way to use autocratic powers not just to try to save someone accused of very serious offenses, but even to use tariffs as a weapon against the entire nation as part of these efforts.
What is more, one of the sons of the accused Jair Bolsonaro, Eduardo (brother of present presidential candidate Flavio), had been lobbying with other allies at high levels in the USA for such actions against the interests of his own country, just to create problems for the Lula administration. When President Trump announced these high tariffs in a message to President Lula, Eduardo Bolsonaro responded on a celebratory note, saying that what they were trying to convey regarding Brazil had received a good response from the USA. In addition, these lobbyists also tried for such decisions as imposing US sanctions against the judge presiding over the case of the coup attempt and related offenses. Here too, they succeeded, and sanctions were imposed on the Brazilian Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes.
All this has been extremely shocking. The extent to which some members of the Bolsonaro team have gone to harm their own country is reported to have angered even some of those who had allied themselves with the former President Jair Bolsonaro in the past.
It is in the context of this recent history that there are very serious concerns regarding foreign interference in Brazil’s elections. All democratic forces should unitedly state that there should be no such interference so that democracy prevails and the people’s verdict is honored.
Disclaimer:The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of The Rift.
