Two polls agreed this Saturday that former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated President Jair Bolsonaro in the television debate on Friday, facing the ballotage on Saturday.
The survey by the Atlas Intel institute among people who did not vote for Lula or Bolsonaro in the first round of October 2 showed that 51.5 percent considered that the former president prevailed in the debate, against 33.7 percent of the current president. A 14.9 said that he did not know what to answer.
According to Intel Atlas, among those who voted for who came third in the first round, Simone Tebet, 61 percent indicated that Lula was the winner of the debate. And among those who chose Ciro Gomes in that first round, who came fourth, 51 percent gave their preference to the leader of the PT, against 26 percent for Bolsonaro. In that segment, there were 23 percent undecided.
For its part, the pollster Quaest reported that it carried out real-time digital monitoring on the social networks Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and indicated that Lula had 51 percent of positive mentions against 49; while Bolsonaro obtained, according to Felipe Nunes, CEO of Quaest, 36 percent of positive mentions and 64 percent of negative ones..
“Whoever Gets the Most Votes Wins”
While, Bolsonaro gave indications in the last hours that he will respect the result of tomorrow’s second roundregardless of what the result is, by stating that “whoever gets the most votes wins”in an apparent change of the narrative maintained during the electoral process.
“There is not the slightest doubt. Whoever gets the most votes wins. That is what democracy is all about.”said the far-right candidate to the presenter Renata Lo Prete, on the television program Jornal da Globo, after the last debate with Lula.
On Wednesday, commenting on the decision of the president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Alexandre de Moraes, to deny an investigation into alleged problems in the distribution and broadcast of electoral guidelines on radio stations, Bolsonaro had already made a similar statement.
“We hope that the authorities in Brasilia show signs of serenity. Because elections are decided by voting, and whoever has the most votes in the ballot box must take office on the corresponding date.”he said on that occasion.
these statements seem to be a change in the president’s speechwho on several occasions in recent years expressed his mistrust of the electoral process, even appealing to false or partial information.
In this sense, after casting his vote in the first round of October 2, he did not respond when asked if he would accept the result and limited himself to assuring that “fair elections must be respected”in an insinuation that it would only recognize the elections if the process, which is supervised by international observers, were transparent. Against all odds, he had also stated that the election would be defined “in the first round”.
unfounded suspicions
In addition, the president’s statements take place in the same week that his son and deputy, Eduardo Bolsonaro, suggested postponing the elections by denouncing lack of impartiality on the part of the electoral justice for his father’s campaign in the distribution of electoral propaganda.
“There is a damaged candidate and another favored, this is hurting democracy. To give Bolsonaro all the response time to which he is entitled, it would be necessary to postpone the election”he had affirmed to Brazilian media, in reference to this denunciation of irregularities in the distribution of spots ordered by the Electoral Justice.
In July, the candidate for re-election also met with foreign ambassadors at the Alvorada Palace, the official residence of the Presidency, to voice their suspicions, without presenting evidence, about electronic ballot boxesthe same system by which he was elected four years ago.
Brazil did not have so far no record of fraud in voting machines electronics, which have been used since 1996.