The president of the Regional Council of Central and South America of the Council of Communities told Lusa that the majority of Portuguese in Brazil support current President Jair Bolsonaro in the October 2 elections.
“Who will win I don’t know. But the community has a preference,” António Graça told Lusa, who added immediately afterwards: “the Portuguese community has a preference for the current president”.
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According to the latest poll by the Datafolha Institute, published on Friday, Lula da Silva leads the voting intentions for the October 2 presidential elections with 45%, but Bolsonaro has once again grown in voting intentions and now stands at 34%. If necessary, the country will have a second round of presidential elections on October 30.
According to the president of the Regional Council of Central and South America of the Council of Communities, the Portuguese community living in Brazil has the feeling that the “economy has improved” and that the judicial issues of which Lula da Silva was a target are still very present in the community’s memory.
“70% of the community is on the side of the current President,” he said, wanting to “make it very clear,” that a large part of the Portuguese community cannot vote and is only putting “things as the community is seeing them.”
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Still, the official considered that relations between the two countries will continue to improve no matter who wins the Brazilian presidential election.
“Our relations between the two countries will continue to get better and better,” he said.
Regarding the commemorations of the bicentennial of Brazil’s independence last week, António Graça considered that “the presence of the President of Portugal with the President of Brazil was good.
“They met at the Itamaraty Palace,” he added.
António Graça also recalled the last visit of the Portuguese President to Brazil, at the beginning of July, Jair Bolsonaro made known by the media that he would not receive Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in Brasilia, a decision he justified with the fact that he would meet with former President Lula da Silva in Sao Paulo.
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In his opinion and that of many people in the Portuguese community in Brazil, the Portuguese President made a mistake, however, he stressed that “that misunderstanding that there was in the past of receiving the former president at the Consul’s house” in São Paulo is over
“I think that situation has been solved”, he stressed.
Some critical voices, including Lula da Silva stressed that the Portuguese President “deserved more respect” from his counterpart Jair Bolsonaro.
On Wednesday, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa attended the September 7th civic-military parade at the Esplanade of Ministries in Brasilia, right in the center of the rostrum, next to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
This was an institutional ceremony with an electoral campaign atmosphere, before a crowd dressed in green and yellow, during which shouts of support for Bolsonaro and slogans against the former President of Brazil Lula da Silva, his opponent in the presidential election of 02 October, were heard.
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In the head of state spoke at the Brazilian Congress in Brasilia, in a solemn session commemorating the 200 years of Brazil’s independence, in which the Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, canceled his presence at the last minute.
