Queue in front of HB Zurich: Thousands take part in elections in Brazil
An L for Lula: Thousands of people are voting for Brazil’s president in Zurich
Brazilians from all over Switzerland are in Zurich to vote. They show more support for the left candidate.
Jair Bolsonaro has been President of Brazil for four years. This Sunday, the second round of voting is to decide who will govern in future: the right-wing Bolsonaro or his left-wing challenger Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, popularly known as Lula and his sign President from 2003 to January 2011.
Long queues have been forming in Zurich’s Europaallee since Sunday morning. The Juventus School is the only polling station in German-speaking Switzerland, and there is only one ballot box in Geneva. On Sunday morning, the line stretches from Lagerstrasse to Gustav-Gull-Platz and along the entire length of Europaallee to Sihlpost and then around the corner again to Lagerstrasse. At times the queue shrank, but people kept arriving.
Thousands from all over Switzerland lined up and waited several hours to cast their vote. For example the young family from Weesen am Walensee. The woman wears a Lula scarf around her shoulders and says: “I wouldn’t dare to do that in Brazil. Fortunately, in Switzerland we have the freedom to express our opinion publicly.” She assumes a close race. Like the country with over 200 million inhabitants, the Brazilian community in Switzerland is also divided.
Bolsonaro ruled for the upper class and the super-rich at the expense of the poor, she says. Her husband adds: “The government has dismantled the welfare system. In Brazil, society is being impoverished.”
Many people would vote for Bolsonaro for moral and religious reasons. “They are not aware of the political issues, but decide, for example, whether the candidate supports abortion or not.” Another woman from the snake intervenes: She worries about the Amazon and the rainforest. Deforestation had to end to save flora and fauna. But Bolsonaro has no interest in that.
“Lula? A crook»
Two young women from Zurich, both 23 and with dual citizenship, disagree a few hundred meters further down the line. “Gross domestic product has increased since Bolsonaro ruled,” says the blonde woman in a Brazilian soccer jersey and Bolsonaro cap. He promoted the economy and above all agriculture and built roads. Her father runs a farm and a transport company in Brazil, so these issues were close to her heart.
The same applies to deforestation: aerial photos would show that the rainforest was shrinking much faster during Lula’s tenure than in Bolsonaro’s four years.
Bolsonaro didn’t put the poor at a disadvantage, on the contrary, says the Zurich native: he started massive social programs, the lower classes get more money from the state than they did under Lula. She abhors them: “I definitely don’t vote for a crook who robbed Brazil.” Lula expropriated landowners and financially supported the socialists in Cuba and Venezuela while their own population suffered from hunger. “I prefer the strong, patriotic Bolsonaro. He doesn’t throw the money out the window with both hands.”
Zurich women elected Lula
A man from Buchs in the Zurich Unterland can only shake his head at that. “I also voted for Bolsonaro four years ago. Because he promised that everything would get better. But he didn’t achieve much,” says the middle-aged man. In Brazil, “everything” should get better, the construction sites are everywhere: poverty, economy, crime, corruption. That’s why he chooses Lula now.
In the first ballot on October 2, the Brazilians had to partially wait over four hoursuntil it was their turn. This time the waiting people made much faster progress. During the heated election campaign in Brazil to outbreaks of violence, the mood in Zurich was largely good: people made videos for social media and a hawker sold Brazilian finger food. Counting the shirts, caps and pins, more people showed their support for Lula than for Bolsonaro. Brazil flags and the Seleção football shirts could still be seen.
The polls officially close at 5 p.m. According to official information, anyone who is in the queue up to this point should receive a password so that they can still cast their vote – the polls should remain open until then. According to a Zurich activist and Lula supporter, the left-wing candidate received around 2,800 votes in Zurich and Geneva in the first ballot, 500 more than Bolsonaro.
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