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Date Posted: 12:47:24 09/30/06 Sat
Author: Marc Stafford (Anxious)
Subject: Brazilian Elections

In spite of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s ties to one of the largest scandals in the modern history of Brazil, he doesn’t seem to be losing any momentum in the upcoming presidential elections, scheduled for October 1st. In fact, da Silva is expected to take the election with relatively little effort. The scandal, uncovered during May of last year, involved payoffs to Congressional members in exchange for the promise of support for da Silva in the 2002 presidential elections. As a consequence, two of da Silva’s most trusted aides, his chief of staff, José Dirceu, and his finance minister, Antonio Palocci, were coerced into resignation. Da Silva has offered a wide array of arguments in the defense of the corruption, first saying that “everyone does it,” and then explaining that he had been deceived by several members of his party and was oblivious to what was occurring around him. It seems to me that da Silva is working to “pass the buck,” rather than take the responsibility on himself for his actions. One of the main reasons why da Silva appears to be gaining in popularity would be due to Brazil’s high ratio of low-income residents and his lenient welfare program. It would only stand to reason that the poor would stand behind such leniency when they have nothing to lose and everything to gain by such policies. “The poor don’t cause problems,” da Silva said at the beginning of his campaign. “All they want is a bit of bread. They don’t have the money to go protest in Brasilia, to organize marches.” It would be expected of the poor to refrain from protesting. After all, what have they to protest?

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