Brazilian President and candidate for re-election Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva voted Sunday in the city of São Bernardo do Campo and stated he was confident of a favorable outcome in the election.
Lula arrived around 9:10 a.m. local time at the João Firmino Correia de Araújo State School in the Assunção neighborhood of that city—located in the state of São Paulo—where he habitually goes to vote.
Upon his arrival, the president greeted supporters gathered outside the polling station.
He was accompanied by Fernando Haddad, the Workers’ Party candidate for governor of São Paulo; Simone Tebet, a candidate for the Senate; and Alexandre Padilha, the Minister of Health.
Before heading to the polls, the leader visited the ABC Metalworkers’ Union, where he met with political allies.
After voting, Lula spoke to journalists near the school and declared his confidence in winning this Sunday’s election, though he noted that the result would depend on the voters’ decision at the polls.
“What is at stake is defining a project for Brazil,” Lula stated, according to press reports.
Lula expressed his view that Brazilians would have to choose between strengthening democracy and what he described as “barbarism.”
In his remarks, Lula also made indirect references to his main electoral adversary, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party. He questioned the possibility of the South American giant moving forward with figures he linked to the concept of militias and also mentioned the Banco Master case.
He emphasized that a new chapter in Brazilian history would be written this Sunday and expressed his expectation of high voter turnout.
The newspaper *Folha de S.Paulo* reported that Lula is set to follow election day from São Paulo and subsequently meet with allies at a hotel in the state capital.
Elections to choose the president, vice president, governors, 54 of the 81 senators, and federal, state, and district deputies began at 8:00 a.m. local time and are scheduled to conclude at 5:00 p.m.
[ SOURCE: PRENSA LATINA ]
