巴西总统决选前一周 卢拉与博索纳罗阵营各自举行街头集会

Students gather in downtown Rio de Janeiro to show their support for President Lula’s candidacy, democracy, and sovereignty Bruna Prado/AP Photo/Bruna Prado Supporters of presidential candidates Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro took to the streets across Brazil on Sunday (18), staging political rallies and musical demonstrations one week before the presidential runoff on October 25. Bolsonaro campaign enlists ‘influencer lawmaker,’ regional leaders Lula campaign bets on social media and street push to expand reach Bolsonaro, the Liberal Party (PL) candidate, gathered supporters on Paulista Avenue in São Paulo alongside leaders from Brazil’s right and far right. In Rio de Janeiro, supporters of President Lula’s reelection bid organized two demonstrations. At the pro-Bolsonaro rally in São Paulo, the candidate was joined by reelected São Paulo Governor Tarcísio de Freitas, of the Republicans party; Lower House member Nikolas Ferreira, Senator Tereza Cristina, senators-elect Guilherme Derrite and Marcel Van Hattem, São Paulo Mayor Ricardo Nunes, city councilor and newly elected Lower House member Lucas Pavanato, and economist Daniella Marques, the spokesperson for Bolsonaro’s economic platform. The rally was part of the campaign’s effort to counter public demonstrations supporting Lula’s reelection. Speaking from a sound truck moving along the avenue, Bolsonaro told supporters they had seven days to “rid Brazil” of the Workers’ Party (PT). “And at the end of the year, you will see Jair Messias Bolsonaro placing the presidential sash on the next president,” he declared over the microphone. The candidate’s father is under court-ordered house arrest after being sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison for five crimes. Supporters complained that the sound system on the main truck carrying Bolsonaro was too quiet to hear the candidate. At one point, he told supporters he would save his voice for that evening’s debate. The demonstration began at around 11 a.m. and ended approximately two hours later. Demonstrators displayed foreign flags, including those of the United States and Israel, and wore caps bearing “Make America Great Again,” the slogan of U.S. President Donald Trump. At the rally and on livestream channels, leaders emphasized that the demonstration was not causing the kind of “destruction” they attributed to the “left” the previous week. Bolsonaro’s campaign rally drew an estimated 71,900 people at its peak, according to the Political Debate Monitor, a project involving the University of São Paulo (USP), the Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning (Cebrap) and More in Common. With a 12% margin of error, the estimate puts attendance between 63,300 and 80,500 people at 12:20 p.m., when the crowd was largest. The count was based on aerial photographs analyzed using artificial intelligence software. The monitor did not count the crowd at Lula’s demonstration on Paulista Avenue the previous week. Although the organization routinely produces attendance estimates for political rallies, Lula’s campaign did not authorize it to fly a drone over the site to make the calculation. In addition to Rio de Janeiro, pro-Lula demonstrations were held on Sunday in Brasília, Salvador, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Florianópolis, Olinda, Recife, Vitória, Curitiba and São Paulo. In Rio, students and social movements gathered near Candelária Church downtown in the morning, with singer-songwriter Chico Buarque among the participants. “We are here against brutality and subservience. Long live the students, long live democracy and long live President Lula,” Buarque said. The National Union of Students (UNE) organized the demonstration, with support from political parties including the Workers’ Party and the Democratic Labor Party (PDT). In the afternoon, the 342 Artes movement and independent media collective Mídia Ninja organized the Musical Rally for Democracy, which brought thousands of demonstrators to Posto 5 on Copacabana Beach. The event featured performances by artists including Caetano Veloso, Djavan, Marina Sena and Chico César. T-shirts and banners bearing the slogan “Bora, Lula” (“Let’s go, Lula”) and messages urging a turnaround in the election were prominent among the crowd, which began gathering at around 2 p.m. One of the event’s hosts, comedian Paulo Vieira, said that despite an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the public gathering, the Rally for Democracy was independent and defended values such as freedom, sovereignty, and democracy. He stressed that Lula’s campaign had not organized the event. Veloso also performed Alegria, Alegria, a song associated with resistance to Brazil’s military dictatorship, drawing an enthusiastic crowd response. The musician recalled his imprisonment during the military regime, emphasized that the gathering was intended to defend democracy, and urged young people to vote on October 25—without asking them to support any particular candidate. “Brazilian music is resisting threats to democracy,” Chico Buarque said. “Long live our democracy and our sovereignty,” Djavan added. In Brasília, demonstrators gathered on the Esplanade of Ministries, in front of the National Museum of the Republic, near the central bus station and Brasília Cathedral. In Salvador, Lula supporters marched from Ondina to the Barra Lighthouse, joined by artists including Daniela Mercury, Gilberto Gil, Zélia Duncan, Liniker and members of BaianaSystem. (Luiza Calegari contributed reporting.)