00:00More than 150 million Brazilians are called to the polls to cast their votes on the general
00:05elections on next Sunday, October 1st. From Rio, our colleague Belen de los Santos has
00:13all of the latest updates on these few days ahead of Election Day. Go ahead, Bel, we hear you. Welcome.
00:20Hello, Ale. Exactly. And of those voters, over 12 million are voting here in the state of Rio
00:26de Janeiro, where we are closely following this last few days. Just minutes before we started
00:33this conversation, there was actually a small gathering from Bolsonarist activists and militants,
00:40as we see throughout the city on both parties, those that are supporting the far-right Bolsonarist
00:46movement and also those who are supporting the center-left party that follows Lula da Silva,
00:54the broad coalition that follows Lula da Silva. We are seeing these groups that are gathering
00:59together. They are throwing some chants. They are giving out templates and also stickers. This is the
01:05last few days of campaigning in every neighborhood. So we are seeing the way that they are not only
01:12gathering together, but also exchanging some conversations. It gets a little bit rough sometimes
01:18as well because, of course, the tensions are getting higher as we approach the last few days, and
01:25particularly Sunday, October 4th, with this decisive election. But we know that every state has its own
01:33election as well because the governors are being elected. And although most candidates are aligning with the two
01:42main candidates at a national level for the presidency, that is, of course, Lula da Silva and Flavio Bolsonaro,
01:49then every state has its own dispute in particular with its own particular topics of discussion. And
01:56the candidates for governor in Rio de Janeiro had their own debate last night, and we were following the
02:03important topics that were coming up. Again, we are talking about Eduardo Price, who is from the Socialist
02:10Democratic Movement and has also the support of President from the Workers' Party, Lula da Silva,
02:16and from the Liberal Party, from the Bolsonaro's far-right, Douglas Ruiz. And those are the main
02:23candidates. Again, not the only ones, but those who are polling at the highest and will probably go into a
02:30runoff again for the governors as well as for the presidency. They have to go over the 50 points on
02:37Sunday in
02:38order to win the position. And if not, they will go to the runoff. In that debate, some of the
02:46major points,
02:47again, security, of course, in this state is one of the key issues. We've been talking about this throughout
02:53the states. And one of the main things that was debated was Eduardo Price. Again, the candidate that Lula da
03:00Silva is
03:01supporting for the state was targeting Douglas Ruiz, the far-right Liberal candidate, because Ruiz has been
03:11talking about this decision and the need for a tougher attempt and approach on security and against
03:19the factions involved in the favelas, for example. But Eduardo Price was saying that he was trying to
03:28distance himself from the current government. He's trying to supposedly bring this as a new movement,
03:36as a new possibility. And what Price was saying is that Ruiz really has been part of a long time
03:43of this
03:44hardship approach in Rio de Janeiro. He was actually part, for example, and closely working with Claudio Castro,
03:50the former governor who actually led one of the deadliest attempts against one of the most important
03:59favela sites here in Rio last October of 2025, with over 120 people killed in that attempt. So that
04:08hard policy against crime that they present as the only way of combating this issue that is affecting
04:16Rio is not only not new, but has less has led to buy on the deaths and has not given
04:23the results that
04:24they are supposedly announcing as quick fixes. So that was one of the major debates here. One of the points,
04:31important points in the debate last night and of course continues to be one of the topics in the run
04:36up to Sunday when the decisive moment, the first one at least this month, will come.
04:42Well, also these days there have been many news coming, many relevant news coming from Brazil,
04:49and one of them is the ban that has been imposed on online betting platforms. I wanted to ask you,
04:57what is the people saying about this decision that has been taken just a few days from Election Day?
05:04Exactly, Ale. Well, we have been talking about every piece of news this week being very relevant,
05:10because we know statistically that the last few days are the ones who really tick the scale one way or
05:16the other. And that happens particularly in every country and in Brazil as well. And what you were
05:22mentioning, right, the banning on the betting agencies, the online betting agencies here in Brazil called
05:29the Bets has been one of the hot topics. President Lula Silva presented this decision as a matter of
05:35public health and also as a way of helping the households of those most vulnerable. Why? He was
05:44explaining that the high profiting companies that are benefiting from these models of online bets, they are
05:55taking advantage of those in need of those most vulnerable that maybe need some extra cash to buy groceries
06:04at the end of the month. And they are trying to do that through the betting agencies that are promising
06:10a quick money and easy money and are actually taking away from that household income. And because of all of
06:18that
06:18effects and in a situation in which a large position of the population, a large portion of the population
06:25in Brazil is more and more in depth. Now, that is why they decided to take this approach. We have
06:32been
06:32talking to people in the streets. And as you were saying, this is very much part of the public discourse.
06:37A lot of the people that we have been talking to here in Rio de Janeiro have shown themselves to
06:42be in
06:43favor of this position, precisely because of this, because it is helping those most in need. They also
06:51acknowledge that it may be at the cost of some profit for some major companies also for the soccer
06:58football clubs that are have also protested because they are in on the profit from the betting agencies.
07:06But most of the people we have been talking to, they were saying, well, between the great companies
07:12and the vulnerable households, we need to be with the vulnerable households and they understand that
07:18this measure from Lula da Silva goes in that way. We'll see what effect it has towards Sunday.
07:24Thank you. Thank you very much, Belle, for helping us to deeper understand everything that is happening
07:29in Brazil, just such a few days away from this important day for Brazilians. Thank you very much.
07:35Of course, Ale.
