Brazilian Election 2022: A victory for the planet?

On the 30th October, Brazilians and people all around the world waited in nervous anticipation for the results of the country’s presidential election. Current Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro of the centre-right political party The Liberal Party was facing off against former president Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva of the social-democratic The Workers Party in an election which promised to be very contentious.  

After the first round of voting on October 2nd, The Workers Party led the polls with a vote share of 48.43% while The Liberal Party gained 43.20%. However, neither party attained the required 50% to win in this first round. Then finally, after a nail-biting election day, at 11pm GMT Lula was announced as the new President after beating Bolsonaro by 50.9% to 49.1% respectively, the closest presidential election in Brazilian history.  Yet what does this victory mean for both Brazil and the rest of the world? 

One major factor within this election that has caused it to attract mass international interest was the environmental issue, namely the fate of the Brazilian portion of the Amazon rainforest. When Bolsonaro came into power in 2019, his government immediately got rid of environmental measures put in place to protect the Amazon by the former government, cut environmental spending and pushed to curb the rights of indigenous communities within the Amazon in favour of corporations who wished to turn their land into farms and other industry. Over the course of Bolsonaro’s first three years in power, it is estimated that 34,000 square km of the Amazon were lost to deforestation, a 52% increase from the previous three years.  

In comparison, Lula has promised to save and protect the Amazon rainforest and its indigenous communities. When Lula originally came into power, in his first run as Brazilian President back in 2004, deforestation in the Amazon was at the highest it had been in eight years. Over the course of his presidency, from 2004 to 2012, deforestation fell by an estimated 80%. His administration was also responsible for introducing numerous laws to protect the Amazon and enforcing the ‘Forest Code’, a law introduced in Brazil in 1965 which requires landowners in the Amazon to maintain the native vegetation and allows them to only farm 20% of their land.  

Lula also promises to bring back the ‘Amazon Fund’, a fund set up to allow individuals and countries to donate toward the preservation of the rainforest which was suspended by Bolsonaro back in 2019. Notable donations include $1.2bn from Norway and $68m from Germany. A study carried out by researchers from Oxford University, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research found that deforestation in the Amazon could be reduced by up to 89% if Lula won the election and remained in power until 2030. 

Another example of why Lula has attracted support from all around the world is the behaviour of Bolsonaro and his supporters in the build-up to the election. Numerous cases of political violence were reported in the months prior, the majority committed by Bolsonaro supporters against Lula supporters. One such case was the murder of Marcelo Aloizio de Arruda, a city guard who was shot and killed at his birthday party by a Bolsonaro supporter named Jorge Guaranho for no reason other than his political affiliations. In the build-up to his campaign Bolsonaro had told his supporters that they “must obliterate” Lula’s Workers Party. Bolsonaro’s government has also been accused of attempted voter suppression.  

On the 30th October the Federal Highway Police were accused of utilising traffic stops in poorer areas, particularly in the northeast region of Brazil, a region which is heavily in favour of Lula, to stop voters from reaching the polling stations. During the first round of elections in the city of Port Alegre, of which the mayor is a Bolsonaro supporter, announced it would cut free travel passes for the first time in 25 years. However, the Supreme Court ruled that no public transportation service could be reduced on election day and Port Alegre was forced to resume its free travel pass system. 

Brazil is one of the largest countries in the world, both in terms of economy and population, and is the most powerful nation in the South American continent. It also contains 60% of the Amazon; the world largest rainforest produces nearly 10% of the world’s oxygen and its survival is vital in the fight to save the planet from the ongoing climate crisis. As such, it is important that Brazil has a suitable President and government to lead the country into a progressive and sustainable future. After four years of Bolsonaro and his administration, in which the country has seemingly regressed in many aspects, Brazil finally has the president and government that it deserves.