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Neutrality in the runoff may have been only on the surface

[Translation of an article from Brasil de Fato of São Paulo for October 28. See original article here.]

by Eduardo Sales de Lima

Marina Silva says she is neutral in the runoff election, as does the Partido Verde (PV – Green Party). What appears to be agreement at first sight may hide what some political personalities see as a programmatic abyss between the former candidate for the presidency and the majority of the party cadre.

Support for the former PV presidential candidate grew surprisingly in the days before the first round of the elections, winning her 19.6 million votes from throughout Brazil. Roberto Malvezzi, CPT [Comissão Pastoral da Terra – Pastoral Commission for the Earth] advisor, believes many people, to the right and to the left, underestimated the votes for Marina and attributed her growth to conservative and evangelical backing. Support for Marina, according to Malvezzi, reflected more than that; it represented the discontent of many Brazilians over the lack of regard for the environment, especially in connection with large projects like the transposition of the São Francisco river and the construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant on the Xingu river. “The Lula government misjudged the environmental question. I don’t know if Serra judged it at all,” he declares. (more…)

Three articles

Dilma makes amends with Catholics and evangelicals

[Translated from Hora do Povo of São Paulo for October 1. See original article here.]

The candidate of the Para o Brasil Seguir Mudando [So Brazil Will Continue Changing] coalition, Dilma Rousseff, held a meeting with representatives of catholics and evangelicals on Wednesday, September 29, in which she made a statement denying defamatory messages spread through the internet that accuse her of declaring that not even Jesus Christ could take this election away from her and that she would favor abortion and marriage between persons of the same sex.

“I reject totally statements that claim I used the name of Christ to say that not even he could defeat me in this election. It is slander, it is villany,” she said, emphasizing that these attacks represent a “defamatory campaign” against her candidacy. “These rumors come from the political underworld and are typical of the end of a campaign,” she declared. (more…)