"Acrimonious Brazilian presidential race draws to close" by Brad Brooks | Associated Press October 26, 2014
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian voters electing a new president this weekend are being asked to decide what scares them least: the incumbent’s warnings about the ‘‘ghosts of the past,’’ or her challenger’s charges about the ‘‘monsters of the present.’’
The latest polls give left-leaning incumbent Dilma Rousseff a slight edge in Sunday’s runoff vote to lead the world’s fifth-largest nation. But few people are counting out center-right challenger Aecio Neves after a topsy-turvy campaign that has been the most competitive, divisive, and dramatic since Brazil’s return to democracy in 1985.
Okay, what I see on the surface is an attempt by the U.S. to reinstall a right-wing dictatorship as has been the history down there.
That is not to say Brazil's "leftists" government is golden. It's hooked into the whole world financial $y$tem, and thus it is compromised in these eyes; however, Brazil also has not been immune from protests mostly ignored by my ma$$ media and the U.S. has and does spy upon it.
Nothing wrong with a "friendlier" government in these times, is there?
‘‘The country is divided in two, with half feeling that social inclusion and protections are what matter most, and the other half believing that macroeconomic stability is more important,’’ said Carlos Pereira, a political analyst at the Gertulio Vargas Foundation, Brazil’s leading think tank. ‘‘The candidate who convinces voters he or she is best prepared to combine these two beliefs and make them complementary will win Sunday’s election.’’
The race turned dramatic after Eduardo Campos, a main opposition candidate, was killed when his campaign plane crashed in August.
And not really much was made of it, either, and why did Paul Wellstone just come to mind (do your own research)?
His running mate, renowned environmentalist Marina Silva, was thrust into his spot, and she immediately jumped to a double-digit lead over Rousseff and Neves.
Wow. What happened? Who benefitted from the unfortunate accident?
Silva initially tapped into the discontent over poor public services that millions of Brazilians expressed in antigovernment protests last year, but her campaign never found its feet and voters drifted away within weeks.
OMG! I have seen such a thing here in AmeriKa, and it is amazing how people like that never win in politics!!
That opened the gap for Neves to stage his surprisingly strong showing in the Oct. 5 first-round vote, coming in second and forcing Rousseff into a runoff when her first-place finish didn’t get an absolute majority.
Again, I see massive vote fraud here.
Also see: Bolivia, Bulgaria, and Brazil
Related: Progress Software agrees to buy Telerik for $262.5m
At least they are Telexfree.
The campaigns hit fever pitch in the three weeks since, with the Workers’ Party that’s been in power for 12 years and Neves’ Social Democracy Party that last held the presidency in 1995-2003 battling it out with no shortage of verbal jabs and nasty allegations.
Rousseff attacked her rival with campaign ads asking Brazilians to remember the ‘‘ghosts of the past’’ when Neves’s party ruled, with much of the nation mired in poverty, unemployment rife, and consumers crippled by hyperinflation.
Americans are living that.
The incumbent has emphasized the social gains made under the Workers’ Party, whose expansive social welfare programs helped pull millions out of poverty and have kept unemployment at historic lows.
Neves urged voters to look at ‘‘monsters of the present,’’ including a recession, inflation that has floated above the government’s 6.5 percent target, and allegations that the Workers’ Party was involved in an apparent decadelong, billion-dollar kickback scheme at state-run oil company Petrobras.
On Saturday, Rousseff headed to southern Brazil, where she began her career as a bureaucrat, to rally supporters and again denounce the accusations of corruption. Neves spent his last day campaigning in the swing state of Minas Gerais, where both he and Rousseff were born, and where Neves served two terms as governor.
The latest results from Brazil’s two most respected polling groups put Rousseff ahead of Neves. A Datafolha survey released Thursday had Rousseff leading Neves 53 percent to 47 percent, with a margin of error of 2 percentage points. An Ibope Institute poll put the president’s lead 54 to 46, with the same margin of error.
‘‘I’m voting for Dilma because the Workers’ Party has made life easier for the poor. I still live in a slum, but now my home is full of nice, modern things — I’ve got a TV, a new refrigerator, and air conditioning,’’ said Ana Paula Marinho, a nurse who lives in the Pavao-Pavaozinho favela that sits above Copacabana’s ornate apartments. ‘‘We can see that we’ve got a better future with Dilma.’’
But Patricia Botelha, who lives in Rio’s wealthy Ipanema neighborhood, said Rousseff’s poor management had led Brazil’s economy to weak growth and all Brazilians will pay the price if the country doesn’t rebound soon. She voted for the Workers’ Party in the last three elections, but this year is casting a ballot for Neves.
The CIA's base of support in Brazil.
‘‘We’ve never seen social advances among the poor as we’ve witnessed during the last 12 years. Those are real accomplishments and we’re all better off for it. But we need new ideas on the economy, on how to keep growing, or those gains will be reversed no matter what policies are enacted,” she said.
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"Rousseff reelected as president of Brazil" by Brad Brooks | Associated Press October 27, 2014
RIO DE JANEIRO — President Dilma Rousseff narrowly defeated opposition contender Aecio Neves in Sunday’s presidential election in Brazil, according to official results.
With 98 percent of the vote counted, Rousseff had won 51.5 percent of the ballots. Election officials said there were not enough outstanding votes left to be counted to allow her rival to catch up.
Rousseff’s victory extends her Workers’ Party rule, which has held the presidency since 2003. After a bitter, unpredictable campaign, the leftist leader said she was counting on Brazilians’ gratefulness for a decade of progress to overcome concerns about a sluggish economy.
The choice between Rousseff and Neves split Brazilians into two camps — those who think only the president will continue to protect the poor and advance social inclusion versus those who are certain that only the contender’s market-friendly economic policies can see Brazil return to solid growth.
I know which side the U.S. wanted, and they couldn't steal it so Dilma probably won by more.
The Workers’ Party’s time in power has seen a profound transformation in Brazil, as it expanded social welfare programs to help lift millions of people from poverty and into the middle class. But four straight years of weak economic growth under Rousseff, with an economy that’s now in a technical recession, had some fearful those gains were under threat.
That's bad for us, the region, the hemisphere, the world, and why $uch remedies are no good here in the U.$. of A.
Rousseff and Neves fought to persuade voters that they could deliver on both growth and social advances. This year’s campaign was widely considered the most acrimonious since Brazil’s return to democracy in 1985, a battle between the only two parties to have held the presidency since 1995.
Neves hammered at Rousseff on a widening kickback scandal at state-run oil company Petrobras, with an informant telling investigators that the Workers’ Party directly benefited from the scheme.
You kind of expect that from government now no matter where you live.
Rousseff rejected those claims and told Brazilians a vote for Neves would be support for returning Brazil to times of intense economic turbulence, hyperinflation, and high unemployment, which the nation encountered when Social Democrats last held power.
‘‘We’ve worked so hard to better the lives of the people, and we won’t let anything in this world, not even in this crisis nor all the pessimism, take away what they’ve conquered,’’ Rousseff said before voting.
After he voted, Neves said he was ready to lead all Brazilians, rich or poor. ‘‘I’m in a much better position than her,’’ he said of his opponent. ‘‘We’ll show that we’ll maintain the social programs, that we’ll make good on all our promises.’’
Officials said voting generally went smoothly. However, there was a shooting at a polling site in the northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte that police said appeared to be gang-related.
In another election Sunday:
■ Uruguay: Left-leaning candidate Tabare Vazquez won the most votes in Sunday’s presidential election, but fell short of the outright majority needed to avoid a Nov. 30 runoff, according to exit polls.
Vazquez, 74, the candidate of the outgoing president’s Broad Front coalition, will face challenger Luis Lacalle Pou of the center-right National Party in the second-round vote.
Outgoing President Jose Mujica and the Broad Front led Uruguay to economic prosperity and initiated social policies such as the legalization of marijuana and gay marriage.
Looks like the same things as happened in Brazil. Can't steal it outright, but can create a runoff.
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