The accusations between Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and former President Lula da Silva, both candidates for the highest position in the Brazilian Executive, increase in the final stretch of the electoral campaign.
“The confrontation will increase. Bolsonaro will increase the number of offenses and attacks on the Workers’ Party [sigla de Lula da Silva] and the PT must respond and make counterattacks”, considered the journalist and political analyst Thomas Traumann, in statements to Lusa.
Predicting Bolsonaro’s growth in the polls as a result of the government’s recently announced economic programs, Traumann said that Bolsonaro tends to radicalize his speech because he lags behind his opponent and he needs to increase the rejection of Lula da Silva to have chances of victory in a possible second round of the presidential elections, to be held on October 30.
Last Thursday, Bolsonaro’s election-time program on Brazilian television networks focused on direct attacks on Lula da Silva, citing the lawsuits against the former president.
The Court prohibits the Bolsonaro campaign from using images of the bicentennial
“They are trying to make you believe a lie. We cannot allow (…) The worst and biggest lie of this election was to say that Lula [da Silva] he was exonerated,” says Bolsonaro’s propaganda, citing statements by the former president claiming to have been acquitted by the courts, after the presentation or annulment of corruption cases.
The Brazilian president has also said, in campaign speeches, that “Brazil does not deserve a [Lula da Silva] who has just been released from prison and now wants, with his deputy, to return to the scene of the crime”.
In addition to the speeches, the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper also reported last Thursday that the Bolsonaro campaign created and promoted Google. a website in Internet that gathers negative news and content for the former presidentpractice that contravenes electoral legislation.
On the other hand, Lula da Silva has increased direct attacks on Bolsonaro, a strategy he has avoided until now.
The former president replied, on September 7 (when Brazil was celebrating 200 years of independence from Portugal), that “instead of bringing a message of peace, unity and hope to the Brazilian people, the President of the Republic used the date to campaign and offend your opponents.”
“We never use the Fatherland Day, a day that belongs to the Brazilian people, as a political instrument. Our country needs love, not hate,” added Lula da Silva.
The former president who leads the voting intentions with the preference of 45% of voters compared to 33% of declared support for Bolsonaro, also cited a report by the UOL portal on alleged payments of more than 50 properties with cash, which were bought by the President and close relatives in recent years.
The report revived suspicions about alleged embezzlement of advisors’ salaries and embezzlement of public money that weigh against the President and his sons.
The accusation was made during the electoral campaign on television, which prompted a request for the right of reply by Bolsonaro, who stated before the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) that the video transmits “serious offenses against the honor and image of the president of the Republic and his family” when pointing out that more than 25 million reais (4.7 million euros) were spent in cash on the purchase of real estate by the presidential family.
Source: Observadora
