Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tries to seduce evangelical voters, of great electoral weight in Brazil. Photo: AFP
The former president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said that if he wins the elections in October, his eventual government will respect both the Constitution and the Bible. The phrase seemed aimed at evangelical voters who mostly support the candidacy of far-right president Jair Bolsonaro.
“We must look at the Constitution and it must be fulfilled, we must look at the Bible and it must be fulfilled,” assured the candidate of the Workers’ Party (PT) on Thursday evening, speaking before a large audience in Belo Horizon, the capital of the state of Minas Gerais.
Religion occupies an important place in the countryside of Lula and Bolsonaro since last Tuesday, when the race for the Planalto Palace officially began.
Bolsonaro is “more for a Pharisee than for a Christian, he respects no one”, said in a hoarse voice the 76-year-old former president in Praça da Estaçao, where his candidate for vice president, the center-right was present the politician Geraldo Alckmin, governor of the state of Sao Paulo.
“We are faced with an unbalanced, unstructured person, we are faced with a person who believes that hatred must be stimulated, that is, the opposite of what we want”, added Lula in a new thrust against Bolsonaro.
evangelicals and Catholics
A Datafolha poll, released Thursday, indicated that Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party (right) has 49 percent of voting intentions among neo-Pentecostal voters and Lula 32 percent.
On the other hand, former trade unionist Lula received 52% of consensus among Catholic voters, compared to 27% of former military officer Bolsonaro.
The Datafolha poll “indicates that there is a strong evangelical vote in favor of Bolsonaro because the vote of that segment that has a growing weight in the population has become quite politicized,” said political scientist Ana Carolina Evangelista, director of the Institute of Studies. Friday of religion.
The evangelical citizen “has a more active participation in politics than the Catholic” and this makes his impact in the campaign important, despite the fact that Catholics continue to be the majority in Brazil, he added.
Members of Lula’s campaign have made it known that their candidate will try to downplay Bolsonaro’s lead evangelicals who represent 30% of the 156 million voters.
To do this, Lula, who is Catholic, will insist that they do not intend to close the neo-Pentecostal temples as the pastors of Bolsonaro have assured in their cults, according to a report released this week by CBN radio, by the Globo group.
women’s vote
At the same time, the PT candidate continues with his speech towards the female electorate, which according to several polls is mostly towards the PT.
“We do not want women to continue to be treated as if they were objects in bed, we want women to be objects of history, to be able to do what they want,” said the politician in Belo Horizonte.
Meanwhile, Lula’s wife, sociologist Rosángela “Janja” Silva, began holding meetings with women advocating progressive discourse and religious tolerance, as a counterpart to Bolsonaro’s wife.
Bolsonaro, who is Catholic, has established himself close link with the Evangelical Churches and has the support of the powerful Bancada de la Biblia, made up of shepherds.
It is in this context that the first lady, Michelle Bolsonaro, an evangelical, has given speeches in recent events in which she has taken a religious position assuring that her husband is chosen by the Lord and accused the opposition of being sent by the “devil”.
Source: ANSA
CB
Source: Clarin
