The tough job Brazilians have this comin

Quelques jours avant le deuxième tour des élections présidentielles, Deborah Cattani, étudiante en journalisme et brésilienne vivant à Porto Alegre, nous livrait son point de vue sur ce moment important pour son pays, le Brésil:

"In the next few days, Brazilians have the hard mission of deciding the country’s political future. On one side the current president Dilma Rousseff, who has been perpetuating Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) legacy for the past four years, and on the other side Aécio Neves, who represents Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (PSDB). People have never been so divided and lost as now, even in the typical war between left and right, which precedes every elections, for this one in particular, has the power to change the whole political scenario of Latin America.

Ex-militaries and supporters of the dictatorial time representing the right wing compose PSDB. PT was created in opposition, on behalf of the left, the poor people and workers. The ruling government has played a part in the actual economic state. PT took its place in the democratic transition from a long dictatorial period in 2002, with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. In between the military dictatorship and the 12 years of PT ruling, PSDB launched Plano Real with Fernando Henrique Cardoso at the presidency.

Both parties have played important roles in Brazil’s growth. Furthermore, they have the biggest number of affiliates, PT with 15.36% (2,356,091) and PSDB with 10.37% (1,590,304). The main problem is that PT has ruled for a long period, allowing the emergence of many new voters who lack the sense of historical background. Concomitantly, Brazil faced a sequence of protests last year displaying the youth’s dissatisfaction with a series of claims, triggered by the increase in bus fares. Besides that, the party has sided with former political enemies to strengthen against PSDB.

Such duality is already changing the country’s relationships strongly built in the last years. Neves plans to modify the external policies and this has troubled the political scientists’ sleep. In his government plan, he defends that Brazil is isolated from bilateral business and production chains with developed countries. He says Brazil’s presence in Mercado Comum do Sul (Mercosul) is outdated and almost irrelevant, proposing new associations with the USA and Asia endorsed by their economic progress. In addition, his campaign focuses on criticizing PT because of recent corruption allegations. Rousseff is working hard on avoiding that topic.

The last scandals have divided the electorate even more. Despite the figures, showing that with PT Brazil has achieved a new economic level, eradicating massive poverty and stimulating social programs, some people seem unhappy with their personal status quo. Neves knows how to take advantage of that and has been promising inordinate solutions that are hard to put in practice.

The next Sunday will show how Brazil is really reacting to the possibility of leaving a leftist government in favor of a much more conservative one. So far, polls are unreliable as they change every day and misleading public opinion. There is no easy solution; Brazilians must read the government plans and pic a side. The future will be the kind we have to wait and see. If Rousseff is reelected her electorate will be expecting big alterations, especially with regard to corruption. If Neves becomes president, many things might be very different. There is no way to predict the state of affairs in 2015. These have been the tightest elections ever seen in Brazil."

Article: Deborah Cattani