Itamaraty has reduced the number of places Brazilians can vote in the October presidential election. On the grounds that consultations were held with the country’s consulates abroad, the government decided to cancel the branch organization. The decision infuriated Brazilians, especially in Italy.
This year, the Supreme Electoral Court revealed that there was a significant increase in Brazilian electorate abroad compared to 2018. In 2022, there will be 697,078 female voters eligible to vote abroad, 40% more than four years ago. The volume is nearly double that of Brazilian voters in 2014, with 354,000 signed up to vote at the time.
Even so, the government’s decision was to reduce voting places compared to what existed in 2018.
Itamaraty told UOL that in the presidential election four years ago, 33 ballot boxes were opened in municipalities different from the cities where Brazilian Embassies and Consulates are located. This “made it easier for citizens residing far from diplomatic or consular headquarters to exercise their citizenship rights. Of the 33 “decentralized sections” held in 2018, 22 were opened for the first time,” he said.
According to the government, in February 2021, at the start of preparations for the 2022 election, “Itamaraty asked bureaus that set up polling stations outside of their headquarters in 2018 to evaluate the experience of the last election”.
The following elements should be taken into account:
1. The number of ballot boxes operating outside the headquarters;
2. The number of registered voters and their turnout in each election and in each division;
3. The number of employees and other persons (volunteers, poll workers, etc.) participating in the organization and organization of elections at each polling station;
4. Costs of holding each election in departments outside the Center;
5. Difficulties encountered in establishing ballot boxes outside the center (logistics, organization, installation, etc.);
6. Reflections of the opening of ballot boxes outside the center on the society (satisfaction, praise, criticism, etc.).
According to Itamaraty, responses to the consultation varied. “On the one hand, the initiative was viewed positively at 17 polling sites, with turnout equal to or higher than seen at the headquarters of the police station, and allowing greater rapprochement between Brazilian residents and diplomatic or consular offices,” he said.
“On the other hand, the experience at 16 locations was rated negatively by the posts and was discouraged from being repeated as a result,” Itamaraty said.
“The rationale was mainly cited as logistical difficulties in materials and transportation, and a low level of voter turnout that was not consistent with the high operational costs required for implementation.” said.
In this context, it was suggested that the experience of ‘sections outside the Headquarters’ be repeated only in places where positive evaluations were made, in the 2022 election period.
However, when asked about the “negative” sites, Itamaraty no longer responds to emails from the report.
Tough voting and angry Brazilians
In some places, the decision without consulting Brazilians abroad has drawn sharp criticism. For example, Brazilian voters living in northern Italy’s Veneto region are outraged that the Venice/Mestre constituency has been canceled for this year’s elections. Now they will have to make the long journey to Milan, where the consulate is located, to exercise their voting rights.
According to the latest data from Istat – Italy’s National Research Institute, around 5,000 Brazilians live in the region, representing 10% of the 50,000 people living in Italy.
The leading Venice/Mestre polling station opened in the 2018 election, and many Brazilians living in Veneto have fully transferred their voter registration to the city to avoid spending, long trips to Milan and absenteeism from work.
The notice of the change of polling place was only made by the Milan Consulate on 28 July, three days after the Facebook page of Brazil’s Honorary Consulate in Venice was temporarily suspended due to the closed election period starting on 2 July. Helen Gnocchi, Brazil’s honorary consul for the Veneto jurisdiction in Venice, posted the statement on her personal social networks and said she was “sorry for the inconvenience caused to voters in this jurisdiction”.
In a note, Brazil’s Consulate General in Milan is aware that many Brazilians residing in Veneto continue to offer their “e-Titles” address in Venice/Mestre as a voting place, announcing that there will be no electoral activity at that address this year. He reiterates that they must go to the Campus of the LUISS University branch to go to Milan and vote.
For Nair Aparecida Pires, a 56-year-old teacher who has lived in Treviso, Italy for 28 years, what has happened is disrespect to voters who have handed the title to Veneza/Mestre. “Centralizing voting in Milan decides to lose a large slice of voters who are angered by this arbitration. Nothing is considered for the citizen. There was no consultation, explanation or dialogue. We were just subjected to this imposition. It is democratic, attitudes like this, true democracy is far from conquered It’s unfortunate,” says the Brazilian.
Nair is the only person in the family to go to Milan to vote because he wants to make his “contribution”, but even though the children are voters, they will not go to Lombard city due to the cost of the trip. “Unfortunately, this will happen to many families. In the current situation after the pandemic, the increase in fuel and the cost of living prevent people from traveling 300km, 600km round trip. Use your right to vote”.
Camila Moura, 44, shopkeeper, has lived in Asolo, Treviso state, in the Veneto region for 20 years, and is another Brazilian who will not vote. For him, this was a lack of thought for Brazilians living far from Milan. “A lot of people don’t realize how difficult it is to move economically.”
An outraged group of Brazilians launched an online campaign demanding that “the situation be rethought and institutions should consider in the name of inclusion the most diverse family situations, including the votes of several members of the same family and the votes of young people.” people. children of Brazilians abroad who proudly want to take this first civic act”.
Leila Roberta Guimarães has lived in the Veneto region since 2002. He was president of the Amazonas Italy-Brazil Cultural Association, which helped organize the 2018 Venice/Mestre vote, and chaired it that year. “The voting process in the first and second rounds was quiet. We still had a small number of voters, as the majority of them were unaware of the existence of an election session in the area. After 2018, the number of voters who finally realized the novelty increased enormously.”
Guimaraes said he would vote for “civil responsibility”, but the two sons who voted would not go to Milan because the family’s expenses were high. “A family like mine with 3 voters spends an average of 300 liras. Is it fair?” he asks. Voting for Mestre for him encourages community participation in the country’s political life.
The Brazilian explains that the voting place is easily accessible because it is a 6-minute walk from Mestre Central Station, which has direct train lines from several cities. On the association’s Facebook page, several Brazilians wrote articles protesting the cancellation of the vote for Mestre.
João Penariol Junior, who has been living in Italy for about 4 years and currently living in Padova, said that he has not transferred his title to Italy yet, but if he could vote, he would definitely go to Mestre because of its proximity. unlike Milan, which is remote and costs a fortune to transport. Venetian-based editor and writer Fabiana Ferreira Lopes and fashion designer Mariah Majolo would travel to Milan to vote, but they would both prefer to vote for Mestre. Majolo reminds that the Italo-Brazilian and Brazilian community in the Veneto region is huge and many people will justify their vote because they cannot travel or get permission to go to Milan.
source: Noticias
