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https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/...nded-bolsonaro-ahead-brazilians-head-to-polls

With Authoritarian-Minded Bolsonaro In The Lead, Brazilians Head To Polls

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilians on Sunday were weighing their hunger for radical change against fears that the presidential front-runner could threaten democracy as they cast ballots in the culmination of a bitter campaign that split many families and was frequently marred by violence.

Far-right congressman Jair Bolsonaro has won over many voters by painting a picture of a Brazil at war — with criminals, corrupt politicians and leftist ideas that he says could turn the country into Venezuela — and promises to change the tide with force and clean governance.

Recent polls showed Bolsonaro with an 8 to 10 point lead over his rival, leftist candidate Fernando Haddad of the Workers’ Party. Several key endorsements late Saturday gave Haddad’s camp hope that they could still pull out a victory.

“I am confident we can win,” said Haddad after voting. “There are many democratic voices that could have been silent and have spoken in our favor.”

On Saturday, a popular former supreme court justice, Joaquim Barbosa, tweeted support for Haddad, saying Bolsonaro’s candidacy scared him. Likewise, former Attorney General Rodrigo Janot, one of the biggest crusaders against corruption in Haddad’s Workers’ Party in recent years, endorsed Haddad for similar reasons.

One of the most important endorsements, particularly for young people, came from Youtuber Felipe Neto, whose channel has nearly 27 million followers.

Neto said he was troubled by Bolsonaro’s comments a week ago that “red” leftists would be run out of Brazil.

“In 16 years of the (Workers’ Party), I have been robbed, but never threatened,” Neto said by Twitter.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain with a lackluster record in Congress over 27 years, rose in prominence amid disgust with Brazil’s political system after a massive corruption scandal and a prolonged recession. In particular, many Brazilians are furious with the Workers’ Party for its role in the graft scheme, known as “Carwash” and Haddad has struggled to build momentum with his promises of a return to the boom times by investing in health and education and reducing poverty.

“If you have three crises happening at the same time — economic, political and moral, ethical in a way — I think you create a scenario which is perfect for outsiders and authoritarian, fringe candidates,” said Oliver Stuenkel, an associate professor of international relations at the Fundacao Getulio Vargas university in Sao Paulo. “It’s not unlikely that we’ll see an erosion of Brazil’s democracy. We’re already seeing it now.”

Many in Brazil and beyond have expressed concerns about a rollback of civil rights and a weakening of institutions in what remains a young democracy, especially since Bolsonaro has waxed nostalgic for Brazil’s 1964-1985 military dictatorship and said he would name military men to his Cabinet.

More than a dozen U.S. Democratic congressmen have written a letter urging Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to make clear that American aid to and cooperation with Brazil “is contingent on the upholding of basic human rights and democratic values by its leaders.”

The past few years in Brazil have been exceptionally turbulent. In 2016, then-President Dilma Rousseff of the Workers’ Party was impeached and removed from office on charges that many on the left felt were politically motivated. The economy suffered a two-years-long recession and is only beginning to emerge, with growth stagnant and unemployment high. And scores of politicians and executives have been jailed in the Carwash corruption investigation that uncovered a multi-billion-dollar scheme to trade public contracts and official favors for bribes and kickbacks.

That instability unleashed extreme anger with the political class but also revealed deep divisions in Brazilian society, and this campaign was the most polarized in decades. There were numerous reports of politically motivated violence, especially directed at gay people, whom Bolsonaro has disparaged. Bolsonaro himself was stabbed and almost died at a campaign event in early September.

“I’m not crazy about Bolsonaro. But he is our way to keep the Workers’ Party out of office,” said Rafaela Rosa, a 32-year-old teacher, after voting Sunday in Sao Paulo. “We have had enough corruption and now we need to clean up.”

Many observers predicted that a newcomer would emerge to harness that anti-establishment anger. Instead, support coalesced around Bolsonaro, who both is and isn’t an outsider: He has served for nearly three decades in Congress, but he has often been at the margins of that institution and he painted himself as just the strong man Brazil needed to dismantle a failing system. Bolstering his rebel image is his reputation for offensive statements and sometimes extreme views, including insulting women, gays and blacks.

Bolsonaro’s campaign first gained traction with his promises to go after violent crime in a country that leads the world in homicides and where many Brazilians live in daily fear of muggings or burglaries. But his vows to loosen gun laws and give police a freer hand to use force against suspects have also raised concerns that a Bolsonaro presidency could lead to a bloody crackdown and an erosion of civil rights.

The campaign gained momentum by winning over much of the business community with promises of enacting market-friendly reforms that would reduce the size of the Brazilian state, including cutting ministries and privatizing state companies.

Haddad has taken the opposite tack, promising to double-down on investment in education, health and social programs, arguing that the gains Brazil made in reducing poverty during the boom years have eroded and the poorest are suffering.

“I still have hope Haddad can turn this around,” said Mario Victor Santos, 58, former ombudsman for the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, which Bolsonaro has repeatedly claimed spread “fake news” about him. “And if Haddad doesn’t (win), we have given evidence that the resistance to a Bolsonaro administration will be very stiff.”
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ACLU Sues Kansas County For Voter Suppression After Elections Official Moves Polling Place With “LOL” Email

https://www.courthousenews.com/aclu-sues-kansas-county-for-voter-suppression/

The American Civil Liberties Union sued a Kansas county election official in federal court Friday, alleging that her moving of Dodge City’s only polling location to a site half a mile outside of the city’s southern border creates a burden on the city’s majority Hispanic population.

Dodge City, located in southwest Kansas about 160 miles west of Wichita, only has one polling location for a population of 27,000. Ford County Clerk Deborah Cox moved it from the town’s civic center to an expo center that is only accessible by crossing a state highway, with no bus routes or sidewalks.

The ACLU filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order asking the federal court to order Cox reopen the civic center as a polling site, which was used as recently as this summer for the state primary elections.

Dodge City’s out-of-town polling place adds to fears of voter suppression in Kansas

After the ACLU objected to Dodge City’s single, out-of-town polling place, the local official in charge of elections forwarded to the state an ACLU letter asking her to publicize a voter help line. “LOL,” she wrote in an email to Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s office.

As Election Day approaches, concerns are being raised in Kansas over voting rights and access to the polls. The movement and elimination of some polling places is sparking fears that casting a ballot may be more difficult for some this year. Cox said she moved the polling location out of a concern for safety. And she said she didn’t mean anything when she wrote “LOL.”

“This was not done with any racial intention at all,” Cox said during an interview in her office on Gunsmoke Street downtown. On Friday, the ACLU sued Cox in an effort to open an additional voting site. The federal lawsuit seeks to force Cox to reopen the city’s previous polling site.
 
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/brazil-elects-right-wing-president

Brazil Elects Right Wing President, Stokes Fears Of Civil Liberty Rollbacks

SAO PAULO (AP) — In some of his first words to the nation as president-elect, far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro promised to defend the constitution and unite a bitterly divided populace.


His left-wing rival immediately vowed to mount a vigorous opposition, while rights groups warned against a rollback of civil liberties.

That juxtaposition underscored the reality that the end of the election was not the end of acrimony and that myriad challenges lay ahead for Latin America’s largest nation.

Bolsonaro appeared to try to allay those concerns Sunday night, saying he would “pacify” Brazil following a race that revealed deep divisions and was repeatedly marred by violence. The candidate himself was stabbed and almost died while campaigning in early September, and there were numerous reports of politically motivated violence, especially directed at gay people.

“This country belongs to all of us, Brazilians by birth or by heart, a Brazil of diverse opinions, colors and orientations,” he said, reading off a sheet of paper in a live television address.

His victory moved Brazil, the world’s fourth-largest democracy, sharply to the right after four consecutive elections in which candidates from the left-leaning Workers’ Party won.

Like other right-leaning leaders who have risen to power around the globe, Bolsonaro built his popularity on a mixture of tough talk and hardline positions. And, like many, he is sure to face stiff pushback from groups concerned that his strong views will lead to policies that threaten democratic institutions.

Bolsonaro spent much of the campaign exploiting divisions, taking to Twitter to lambaste the rival Workers’ Party as unethical and dangerous. In recent weeks, Brazilians were bombarded with WhatsApp messages that condemned Workers’ Party candidate Fernando Haddad, often making outrageous claims.

Ultimately, Bolsonaro’s messages resonated with Brazilians hungry for change: He got just over 55 percent of the votes Sunday, compared to right under 45 percent for Haddad.

Haddad promised a fight while saying he would respect the country’s institutions.

“We have the responsibility to mount an opposition, putting national interests, the interests of the entire Brazilian people, above everything,” Haddad said in a speech to supporters. “Brazil has possibly never needed the exercise of citizenship more than right now.”

In a sign of how tense the race got, Haddad did not congratulate Bolsonaro, whom he had accused of spreading lies about him and his family.

Amid the celebrations by Bolsonaro’s supporters, there were also reports of some clashes between his backers and opponents.

The rise of Bolsonaro, who cast himself as a political outsider despite a largely lackluster 27-year career in Congress, parallels the emergence of hard-right leaders in many countries. But his extreme messages were rendered more palatable by a perfect storm in Brazil: widespread anger at the political class after years of corruption, an economy that has struggled to recover from a punishing recession and a surge in violence.

In particular, many Brazilians were furious with the Workers’ Party for its role in the graft scheme revealed by the “Operation Car Wash” investigation, which uncovered billions of dollars in bribes paid to politicians via inflated construction contracts.

Haddad struggled to build momentum with his promises of a return to the boom times by investing in health and education and reducing poverty. It didn’t help that the man who appointed Haddad as the party’s candidate, former President Luiz Inacio da Silva, is serving a 12-year sentence for a corruption conviction.

Bolsonaro’s candidacy raised serious concerns that he would roll back civil rights and weaken institutions in what remains a young democracy. He has frequently disparaged women, gays and blacks, and said he would name military men to his Cabinet.

Within minutes of his victory being declared, international civil rights groups expressed concerns. Human Rights Watch called on Brazil’s judiciary and other institutions to “resist any attempt to undermine human rights, the rule of law and democracy under Jair Bolsonaro’s government.”

Steve Schwartzman of the Environmental Defense Fund warned that Bolsonaro’s promises about the environment would be “dangerous to the planet.”

Bolsonaro has repeatedly said he would pull Brazil from the Paris agreement on climate change, though last week he backed off on that. He has also promised to cut environmental regulations and make Brazil friendlier to international investors.

The past few years in Brazil have been exceptionally turbulent. In 2016, then-President Dilma Rousseff of the Workers’ Party was impeached and removed from office on charges that many on the left felt were politically motivated. The economy suffered a two-year recession and is only now beginning to emerge, with growth stagnant and unemployment high.

Dozens of politicians and executives have been jailed in the corruption investigation.
Many observers had predicted a newcomer would emerge to harness the anti-establishment anger. Instead, support coalesced around Bolsonaro, who at the margins in Congress painted himself as just the strong man Brazil needed to dismantle a failing system.

Bolsonaro has promised to crack down on violent crime and drastically reduce the size of Brazil’s state. But many of the details of his positions remain unclear since he has largely conducted his campaign via blasts on social media. After he was stabbed, he declined to debate Haddad and gave interviews only to largely friendly media who rarely asked tough questions.

“Tomorrow we start a new country,” said Mario Marcondes, a 61-year-old pilot who gathered with other supporters outside Bolsonaro’s house. “This was like a soccer game, a dispute that is over. Now we will all know to unite.”
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