CHAPEL HILL, NC – The first round of a highly consequential presidential election in Brazil took place over the weekend, causing some UNC students from Brazil to speak out on the affairs of their home country.
Daniela Lipka and Caroline Marques are roommates and current Chapel Hill students from Brazil. Lipka is an exchange student, while Marques has lived in the States for some time now.
“If you are a candidate who mainly focuses on [the] economy,… but you’re not investing in education, culture, and are focused on social policies, then the only people who will have the opportunities to do these things and come to the U.S. and study abroad are only going to be people who are already well off in Brazil,” Marques said. She was worried about the outcome of the election and its impact on prospective exchange student’s opportunities to study abroad.
The two leading presidential candidates have both made international headlines during their tenures. Incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro for his far-right policy and downplaying the deadly COVID-19 pandemic that at one point put Brazil atop the list of most deaths and cases.
On the other hand, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, known simply as Lula, is a left-wing leader and a prominent member of the nation’s Workers Party. He was Brazil’s President for two consecutive terms from 2003 through 2010. Following his exit, he was overwhelmingly popular. However, in 2017, Lula was in a controversial money laundering trial that landed him in jail.
“Brazil deals with corruption issues. We have been dealing with that for such a long time now… We don’t have a perfect scenario, so the way I feel is we are just going to have to choose the one who is least bad,” Lipka said.
Current President Bolosnaro has stated that if he does not win, the election is rigged.
“It’s a threat to democracy, honestly. And that’s pretty much what happened here with Trump, not respecting the results,” Marques said.
In Brazil, voting is compulsory, and elections are decided based on the popular vote. If none of the candidates get above 50 percent, voting goes to a run-off round between the two favored candidates the next month.
Following the September election, neither of the two candidates received 50% of the vote. The election remains undecided and will continue to the next round on October 30.
EDIT: Following October’s close run-off election in Brazil, Lula is Brazil’s president for a third term after receiving 50.9% of the vote to Bolsonaro’s 49.1%.