Jair Bolsonaro’s shouts at a reporter monopolized the first presidential debate in Brazil

Brazil’s presidential candidates faced each other in their first debate, but the meeting was overshadowed by questions about President Jair Bolsonaro’s treatment of womenwhich could be crucial to the president’s aspirations.

Sunday evening’s debate was dramatized after Bolsonaro he shouted to a reporterVera Magalhães, who asked whether the application of COVID-19 vaccines has been affected by the misinformation spread by people, including the president.

He falsely claimed that the injection it has led people to develop AIDS faster and warned of potentially life-threatening side effects.

“Vera, I couldn’t expect anything else from you. Sleep thinking of me, you have a kind of passion for me ‘‘said Bolsonaro, then accusing her of taking sides and lying. “You are an embarrassment for Brazilian journalism!”

Solidarity

Candidate Soraya Thronicke, who won a Senate seat in 2018 with support from Bolsonaro, said “extremely annoying” for the president’s comments in Magalhães, calling them an example of a man who is “a kitten with other men and comes towards us (women) like a huge tiger”.

Other candidates, including former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Ciro Gomes, expressed their solidarity with the journalist, as the issue distracted from the comparison between the clear favorites, Lula and Bolsonaro. Polls indicate that they will likely make it past the first round on October 2 and compete in a second round.

Senator Simone Tebet – whom Bolsonaro called “a shame in the Senate” – said he disrespects women with his attacks and then asked him directly: “Why so much anger against women?”

voters

Bolsonaro’s aggression tends to resonate with his diehard supporters, but alienate undecided votersaccording to Mário Sérgio Lima, senior political analyst at Medley Global Advisors in Sao Paulo.

“He lost his temper with a reporter, exposing his Achilles heel, which is his high rejection among women” Lime said. “This is very difficult to change in a campaign when she is unable to hide her contempt for women in general, and they are more than half of the voters.”

According to a recent survey by the Datafolha firm, 47% of women intend to vote for Lula and 29% for Bolsonaro. The poll of 5,744 people revealed that 29% of women could still change their vote. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Source: AP

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