BRAZIL - THE LEFT ADVANCES

R.Magellan magellan at netrio.com.br
Mon Oct 5 08:02:08 PDT 1998


A NEW ROUND BY THE END OF THE MONTH? Neoliberal Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso (the incumbent one) DIDN'T win the Brazilian election by an overwhelming margin against his main rival, the metalworker Lula (nickname of the left wing coalition candidate Luís Inácio da Silva)

Furthermore, he may have to face a runoff in three weeks, since there still are chances that he gains less votes than all his competitors combined (i.e., first place but without an absolute majority). ADVANCEMENT OF THE LEFT. The left wing coalition has advanced in relation to its past averages in the latest ten years, including both the federal and states parliaments. Its nominees will probably be the next governors of three among the four main states of Brazil (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul) and the national capital city (Brasília) and the little state of Acre as well. PT (the Workers' Party), that is the party of Lula, will probably continue to be the largest of Latin America (in number of votes).

OFFICIAL PARTIAL RESULTS. The official PARTIAL results for President (about half of the total number of electors) at 07:35 AM (hour of Brasília, GMT -3) on October, 5th are the following:

---- Fernando Henrique Cardoso 50,45% of the valid ballots already computed. -----Lula 34,83% of the valid ballots already computed.

Details may be found at the bottom of this message. These results are very far from being the overwhelming majority that had been expected by the right wing both in Brazil and abroad. Also note that almost all of the other ten less voted candidates for President are opposed to the neoliberal policies of President Cardoso too, some of them more vocally than Lula.

A SHORT VIEW OF THE ECONOMIC LANDSCAPE. Brazil, the world's ninth-largest economy and Latin America's first, is deemed to be at the brink of an economic collapse due to the continuous speculative attacks against its currency and due to the neoliberal and globalist big business policies by President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Although the 12-month accumulated inflation rate is nearly zero yet, the unemployment rate has already surpassed its former highest historical peak, according both the official estimates and the labor unions economic insitute's (about 20% of the economically active population).

The consequences of the Brazilian meltdown to the world will be worse than both the Russian and the Korean crisis. Argentina will soon follow suit, since Brazil and Argentina are closely knitted to each other. The exposure of international banks (specially US ones) is larger in Latin America and so they are risking heavier losses. The permanent crisis of globalized capitalism will so spread more and more all around the world. It's madness!

In solidarity, Roberto

1848 / 1998: Proletarier aller Länder, vereinigt euch !

Paix entre nous, guerre aux tyrans (....) Ouvriers, paysans, nous sommes Le grand PARTI DES TRAVAILLEURS (L' Internationale)

##########################################################

<http://www.uol.com.br/uolnaseleicoes/apura/>

Candidates for President of the Republic:

No.of ballots

% of valid votes

45 FERNANDO HENRIQUE

21.945.363

50,45%

13 LULA

15.151.411

34,83%

23 CIRO GOMES

4.892.365

11,25%

56 ENÉAS

968.820

2,23%

43 SIRKIS

96.141

0,22%

19 THEREZA RUIZ

83.720

0,19%

33 BRIGADEIRO IVAN FROTA

78.879

0,18%

16 ZÉ MARIA

68.667

0,16%

20 SÉRGIO BUENO

57.333

0,13%

70 JOÃO DE DEUS BARBOSA

55.380

0,13%

27 EYMAEL

55.134

0,13%

31 VASCO NETO

43.564

0,10%

Total of computed votes::

51.704.176

(48,73% of 106.109.551 electors)

Total of blank votes:

2.362.197

(4,57% of the computed votes)

Total of nullified votes:

5.845.202

(11,31% of the computed votes)

Total of valid votes:

43.496.777

(84,13% of the computed votes)

Absentee electors (including the dead ones still in the rolls);:

12.360.930

(11,65% of total of the enttled electors)

Electoral sections already computed: :

162.778

(52,90% of 307.730 sections)



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list