Brazil elections 2022 second round live | Lula da Silva: “Today people define the model of Brazil they want” | international

Edelusa Nascimento, voter of Lula: ‘Bolsonaro left hundreds of thousands of Brazilians to die’

by Noor Mahtani Edelusa Nascimento, 54, is confident that in a few hours she will celebrate Lula da Silva’s victory. He walks out with a shy smile from McKenzie University, a polling station between downtown and a high-income neighborhood. “I think I’m one of the few in this neighborhood who will vote for Lula da Silva,” she predicts. “But we will defeat them today. And those who will notice it most are the most disadvantaged, those who live on the minimum wage.”

Paulista asserts that she would have voted for any option other than Bolsonaro. “Not even a joke. In these four years he destroyed everything we have and insulted us as a country,” he criticizes. “I wonder who still believes in him after he managed the epidemic. He left hundreds of thousands of Brazilians to die.” As he was talking, he looked around and lowered his tone of voice. “You have to be careful what you talk about,” he says. “I don’t know what they will be like today when they lose.”

Nelson Cena, 48, came to vote as soon as he got off his night shift as a security guard. Upon exiting, he said, “I didn’t doubt my vote. I vote for democracy, Lola.” “We lost actual democracy with Bolsonaro.” We couldn’t have a worse boss, criticize. “He does not represent us, especially those who look like me,” says the black voter.

The Electoral College of the Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie is a non-stop place for voters who arrive as a couple, alone or with their families, wearing sunglasses and winking at their candidate. Bolsonaro voters are the easiest to identify. They carry the national flag in all its forms: T-shirts, hats, posters… Any sign of patriotism among the electorate is a simultaneous wink that awakens their complicity. “Vamo’la,” says an old woman dressed in yellow to another far-right follower as he leaves the compound.