Lula rejoices: «They wanted to bury me, but I am risen». Caution on the markets
The first to break the silence in the Bolsonaro House, 20 hours after the proclamation of Lula as president, was on Twitter the eldest son of the far-right leader, Senator Flávio: “Thanks to all those who helped us to save patriotism , who prayed, took to the streets, gave their sweat for the country that works and gave Bolsonaro the biggest vote of his life! Let’s raise our heads and don’t give up our Brazil! God in charge! ». Dad, on the other hand, still remained silent, as Trump did in 2020, despite the fact that his closest collaborators have tried all day to persuade him to publicly accept defeat. 49.1% against Lula’s 50.9%. It has never happened in the history of democratic Brazil that the loser did not recognize the victory of the opponent.
On Sunday night Bolsonaro locked himself up in his residence in Brasilia, the Alvorada Palace, and left it on Monday morning to go to the Planalto, the presidential palace, refusing to answer calls from his political allies. In the afternoon he returned home, according to his spokesmen to file a speech in which he would not contest the defeat but would speak of electoral “injustices”. The text proposed by his advisers confirms respect for democracy without however leaving the Bolsonarian militants “orphans”.
Despite being able to count on the strength of his Liberal Party – with as many as 99 deputies out of 513 and 14 senators out of 81 – the Trump of the Tropics seems isolated. At least at the institutional level. The deputies of the Centrão, representatives of various parties with which any president must negotiate to get the laws passed, would have quickly turned their backs on Bolsonaro, in office for another two months. And the Speaker of the House, Arthur Lira, his political ally, immediately recognized the electoral result. The situation is different in the squares, where yesterday some groups of Bolsonarist auto-transporters unleashed. They blocked over 140 roads in 18 states of the country. Others criticized the mobilization: “This is not the time to stop the country,” said the leader of the 2018 trucker protest.
The first to rush to Brazil to congratulate Lula in person was the president of Argentina, the Peronist Alberto Fernández, who said: “He is a wonderful leader.” Even the American Joe Biden ran, albeit not physically, to support the newly elected president with a phone call in which “he praised the strength that the Brazilian democratic institutions have shown in free, fair and credible elections”. Congratulations came from all over the world, from the Italian Meloni as from the Cuban Miguel Diaz-Canel,
The markets have instead reacted cautiously for now, waiting to know what the formation of the future Lula government will be. “They are on standby both because they are worried about Bolsonaro’s attitude and because Lula has not yet said who will be his Minister of Economy” explains Graziano Messana, president of the Italian-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce of San Paolo. «The elected president has the chance to attract a new flow of investors interested in energy and environmental conservation issues».
On this day of waiting, the loquacity of first lady Michelle, a fervent evangelist, should be noted. In the morning she posted a psalm from the Bible on Instagram, then denied the rumors of a breakup with her husband Jair, circulated after the spouses stopped following each other on social media: “We will always be united, loving each other, in joy and sadness” she wrote. At least Bolsonaro won’t feel alone.
October 31, 2022 (change October 31, 2022 | 22:37)
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