Far-right president forces second round after closely trailing Lula, disappointing those who had hoped to turn a page on his influence
Tears filled Beatriz Simões’s eyes as she digested Jair Bolsonaro’s startlingly strong performance in Sunday’s Brazilian election.
Hours earlier the 34-year-old publicist had been convinced a hope-filled dawn was coming with the election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as Brazil’s next leader.
Continue reading...One expert says many surveys overrepresented poor voters, and far-right supporters may just not respond
Not for the first time, the pollsters got it wrong. Far from being a sweeping win for the left, the first round of Brazil’s presidential elections was much closer than expected, with the country’s far-right president significantly outperforming predictions.
With almost all votes counted on Monday, Jair Bolsonaro’s veteran leftist rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, had secured 48.3%, while the populist incumbent was just five percentage points behind on 43.3%, a much narrower margin than most pre-election estimates.
Continue reading...Successes in congress as progressive standard bearer Lula is favourite to defeat Bolsonaro in second round of presidential vote
Brazil’s election result was a disappointment for those hoping to see a first-round win for the presidential challenger Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva but there were still some reasons to be cheerful for the country’s left.
Not only is Lula favourite to win the 30 October runoff – he need only increase his vote share from 48.4% to 50+1 – but diversity got a boost in a few key parliamentary races.
Continue reading...As Puerto Rico prepares for Joe Biden’s visit this afternoon, a grassroots collective known as Queremos Sol (we want sun) has published an open letter (in Spanish) in the La Perla online daily urging the president to not waste federal taxpayer dollars on rebuilding the storm vulnerable fossil fuel dependent grid.
“As you know, the absence of electricity after Hurricane Maria caused thousands of deaths. Now, two weeks after Hurricane Fiona, several deaths related to the lack of electricity have been documented. To a large extent, these deaths could have been prevented.
Continue reading...Activists from global south demand recompense for damage from countries most responsible for crisis
Young people from some of the countries most affected by climate breakdown have warned they are not victims but a force to be reckoned with in the run-up to a UN climate conference in Egypt.
Led by climate groups across Africa and the Middle East, hundreds of activists from countries that are the least responsible for the crisis but are experiencing the worst impacts have gathered in Tunisia to prepare for what they say will be a collective fight for justice for their countries and communities, which they will take to Cop27 next month.
Continue reading...Brazilians will go to the polls again after former president won the first vote but failed to secure a majority over the incumbent
Brazil’s acrimonious presidential race will go to a second round after the former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva failed to secure the overall majority he needed to avoid a runoff with the far-right incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro.
With more than 99.5% of votes counted the leftist veteran had secured 48.3% of the vote, not enough to avoid the 30 October show down with his rightwing rival. Bolsonaro, who significantly out-performed pollsters’ predictions and will be buoyed by the result, received 43.3%.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed. You can read our full story on the results at the link below:
A Lula victory would represent the latest in a series of triumphs for a resurgent Latin American left, following the election of leftist leaders in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia and Chile.
“I’m going to win these elections so I can give the people the right to be happy again. The people need, deserve and have the right … to be happy once more,” Lula told journalists as he wrapped up his campaigning with a parade through the streets of São Paulo on Saturday.
Continue reading...Incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and former president Lula will go to a runoff election at the end of the month after a tighter than expected first round result
Brazil’s president is elected directly by the 156 million voters; there is no electoral college and no role for the legislature. A candidate needs more than 50% of the vote to be elected. If this does not happen in the first round, the top two candidates will go into a runoff election at the end of the month.
Continue reading...Polls suggest Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is close to majority of votes needed to stop election run-off against Jair Bolsonaro
Brazil’s leftwing former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva appeared on the verge of a startling political comeback on Sunday as more than 156 million Brazilians took part in the country’s most important election in decades.
As the veteran ex-president cast his vote in Brazil’s industrial heartlands on Sunday morning, Lula voiced optimism he was heading for victory over the far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.
Continue reading...Supporters of leftwing frontrunner confident he will prevail as 156 million Brazilians cast their votes
Gabriela Leoncio has been waiting for the chance to free Brazil from Jair Bolsonaro for four years. On Sunday that chance came.
“It’s been a joke-slash-tragedy,” the restaurant host, 29, said of the president’s tumultuous far-right administration as she cast her vote against him in her country’s most important election in decades.
Continue reading...But hopes leftwing former president will defeat Jair Bolsonaro tempered by fear a runoff contest could mean weeks of turmoil and violence
Brazil’s former leftwing president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is on the brink of an astonishing political comeback, with polls suggesting he is poised to defeat his far-right rival Jair Bolsonaro in Sunday’s election.
Eve of election polls suggested Lula was within a whisker of securing the overall majority of votes that would guarantee him a first-round victory against Brazil’s radical incumbent, whose calamitous Covid response, assault on the Amazon and foul-mouthed threats to democracy have alienated more than half of the population.
Continue reading...Exchange of Maduro nephews for seven Americans is unusual gesture of goodwill from socialist president but Washington denies any change in policy
Venezuela has freed seven imprisoned Americans in exchange for the US releasing two nephews of President Nicolás Maduro’s wife who had been jailed for years on narcotics convictions.
The swap of the Americans, including five oil executives held for nearly five years, follows months of back-channel diplomacy by senior US officials – secretive talks with a major oil producer that took on greater urgency after sanctions on Russia put pressure on global energy prices.
Continue reading...Paris Saint-Germain forward posts video in support of far-right president, who is trailing badly in polls ahead of Sunday’s vote
The Brazilian football star Neymar has come out in support of President Jair Bolsonaro, three days before the far-right leader looks set to lose a bitter re-election race against his leftist rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Lounging in a gaming chair, the Paris Saint-Germain forward recorded a video singing along to a Bolsonaro jingle and making V signs with both hands to signify 22, the number of Bolsonaro’s party as it appears on Brazil’s electronic ballots.
Continue reading...Actor M John Kennedy will read all 75 books in a single day during Toronto’s Nuit Blanche art festival
Children’s author Robert Munsch has sold more than 82m copies of his books and entertained generations of readers with his tender and sharp sense of humour.
His stories have been translated into 45 languages, including 20 Indigenous languages and dialects. He still receives about 10,000 fan letters a year, and has two public schools named after him.
Continue reading...Fact-finding mission reports brutal massacres and sexual slavery in gold-rich arc where armed gangs fight for control
Struggling to get by amid Venezuela’s runaway inflation, widespread shortages and rampant unemployment, a young woman left the city of San Félix for the promise of a job deep in the forests of Bolívar state.
The offer made on Facebook promised a good salary in exchange for working in a booming mining town.
Continue reading...As Hurricane Ian hits the Americas, Noru has been ripping through the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand
Hurricane Ian has been in the headlines but it is not the only storm that has been causing havoc in the past week.
On Tuesday, Typhoon Noru struck south of the city of Da Nang in Vietnam, heading westwards to Thailand. Initially a tropical storm, Noru originated in the Philippine Sea on 23 September, propagating westwards while gathering moisture and strengthening.
Continue reading...Search and rescue effort under way after vessel sank in Stock Island, in the Florida Keys, hours before hurricane made landfall
Eighteen people are missing after a boat carrying Cuban migrants sank off Florida due to Hurricane Ian, further underlining the human cost of the storm.
US border patrol said on Wednesday that it responded to a migrant landing in Stock Island, in the lower Florida Keys, Reuters said.
Continue reading...Figures likely to be an underestimate, says Global Witness, as land defenders are killed by hitmen, crime groups and governments
More than 1,700 murders of environmental activists were recorded over the past decade, an average of a killing nearly every two days, according to a new report.
Killed by hitmen, organised crime groups and their own governments, at least 1,733 land and environmental defenders were murdered between 2012 and 2021, figures from Global Witness show, with Brazil, Colombia, the Philippines, Mexico and Honduras the deadliest countries.
Continue reading...‘Major, major’ storm, estimated to be 140 miles wide, sweeps inland after causing huge flooding on coast, with millions of residents in its path
Hurricane Ian, one of the most powerful storms ever to strike the US mainland, has battered south-west Florida with high winds, rain and storm surges as it weakened and moved inland.
More than 2m homes and businesses were left without power as the storm swept ashore in south-west Florida on Wednesday afternoon, bringing “catastrophic” 150mph (240km/h) winds and a deadly storm surge of up to 18ft. Hours later, the storm – estimated to be about 140 miles (225km) wide – was downgraded from a category 4 to a category 1 storm as it moved slowly north-east, causing major flooding.
Continue reading...Government says country ‘moving ahead’ with ceasefire as new leftist president Gustavo Petro promises ‘total peace’
At least 10 armed groups in Colombia, including the Gulf Clan crime gang and dissident members of the Farc rebels who rejected a peace deal have agreed to participate in unilateral ceasefires, according to the government.
President Gustavo Petro, who took office in August, has promised to seek “total peace” with armed groups, fully implementing a 2016 peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) and meeting with dissidents and gangs.
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