00:14Brazil enters one of the most decisive phases in its history with elections to be held in the South American
00:20country on Sunday, October 4th.
00:22To explore this topic further and gain a better understanding of the situation the country is facing, we welcome our
00:28colleague and correspondent in Sao Paulo, Brian Mears. Welcome, Brian, to From the South.
00:35Hi, thanks for having me on. Yeah, things are really heating up. We're only four days away from the elections.
00:41Brazil has 158 million registered voters and voting is mandatory in Brazil, meaning that if you don't want to vote,
00:50you have the option of casting a blank ballot or filling out some paperwork and justifying why you didn't want
00:56to vote.
00:56But it's a hassle. So turnouts always higher in Brazil than it is in many other countries.
01:03With all the attention on the presidential race, which is the most important presidential race in Brazil since the return
01:11to democracy in 1989,
01:14people are forgetting all the other offices that are up for grabs this Sunday.
01:18There's 27 gubernatorial positions opening and some of the governor's races are really heating up, getting really interesting.
01:26Fifty four vacancies in the Senate will be taken on Sunday.
01:31Five hundred and thirteen federal deputies and over a thousand state deputies will all be elected this upcoming Sunday.
01:40In the case of the governors, it could go to the second round.
01:43The other candidates will all be elected.
01:44Now, some of the interesting things that are going on besides the presidential race is that the Landless World Workers
01:50Movement, or MST, is fielding dozens of candidates across the country.
01:55It's part of their strategy to become more involved in the political process.
01:59And some of the candidates have a pretty good chance of being elected.
02:03Rosa Amorin, who grew up on an MST, a reform settlement in Pernambuco, is polling very well for Congresswoman in
02:11Pernambuco right now, for example.
02:13But with the elections only a few days off, I'm personally witnessing some of the similar things happening, some of
02:20the similar online generated rumors spreading around that I noticed in Venezuela during the lead up to the 2024 elections.
02:29Everywhere I go, people are saying, don't you think it's really violent right now? Look at how violent the result
02:34has become.
02:36Sao Paulo has a lower crime rate than New York.
02:39The crime rate's really low right now.
02:41And furthermore, it's not the president's responsibility, but it's an example of a kind of last-minute election rumor that's
02:48going around.
02:49Other rumors involving the fact that one of Jair Bolsonaro's senior advisors, as a congressperson, he tried to pass a
02:59law removing patron saint status for Our Lady of Aparecida, the most beloved figure among Brazil's Catholic population.
03:08It's also taking wings. Some people think that might affect the election result by drawing some conservative Catholics into the
03:16Lula camp, even though Flavio Bolsonaro has distanced himself from the scandal.
03:21It's still exacerbating tensions between evangelicals, who are growing population in Brazil, and the more traditional Catholics who make up
03:3056% of the population.
03:32So, as Mario Victor said this morning on Good Morning 247, a popular political analysis broadcast, anything could happen in
03:40these last few days.
03:41Both sides of the presidential election probably are going to come out with some kind of rumor or scandal at
03:48the last minute in a last-ditch effort to try and see if they can push their candidate over to
03:53a first-round victory, which would entail getting more than 50% of the valid votes this Sunday.
03:59Both candidates, Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro, are claiming that they believe they can win in the first round.
04:04And we'll find out on October 4th, this Sunday.
04:09Thank you, Ryan, for the information on the current situation in Brazil as it gears up for Sunday's election.
