Presidential election a key moment, Belleville’s Brazilian community says

By Victoria Caminha

BELLEVILLE – The first round of the presidential election in Brazil took place on Sunday with no clear winner, and the Brazilian community in Quinte is keeping a close eye on the runoff election that will result.

Lia Thomaz, a Belleville paralegal originally from Brazil who is now a permanent resident of Canada, told QNet News Wednesday, “I believe this is an important moment in our history. The majority of our people voted in (the last presidential election in) 2018 and elected a president (Jair Bolsonaro) during a time when corruption (by the leftist party previously in power) was being heavily investigated and condemned. There were serious trust issues with the left and people were scared.”

Thomaz was referring to the 2016 impeachment and removal from office of then-president Dilma Rousseff. She was removed from power after Brazilians raised their voices in a massive protest against corruption in her Workers’ Party government.

This past Sept. 7, Brazil’s Independence Day, people from all over the country returned to the streets in a peaceful protest ahead of the 2022 presidential election.

Belleville resident Gabriela Ledesma, also from Brazil, said she fears what will happen after the second round of voting on Oct. 30. That runoff election will determine whether Bolsonaro or Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (known throughout the county simply as Lula) will be the next president. Lula, also from the Workers’ Party, has already served several terms as president, most recently from 2003 to 2011. After he left office he was convicted on corruption charges and served more than a year in jail. The country’s supreme court later threw out the charges.

Ledesma said, “Corruption runs so deep in Brazil that it’s become okay to vote for known corrupt candidates, as long as they are the ‘least worst’ option.”

Barbara Tavares, a psychologist from Brazil who’s in Belleville because her husband, who’s in the military, has been temporarily deployed here, said Brazil is now facing a decisive moment in its political status and development. It’s a fight between two factions, pro-business and pro-social action, she said.

Paulo da Silva, who works in finance, said, “Brazil is experiencing a unique moment in history.

“A new spectrum was created in Brazil a couple of years ago” with the right-wing wave led by Bolsonaro, and this “creates a clash of ideas” with well-established left.

Those interviewed by QNet this week suggested widescale protests are possible, no matter who wins.

“It’s all about how people behave and respond to the results,” Ledesma said.