The candidates for the Brazilian presidential elections criticized on Monday the political and electoral exploitation of Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro during his stay in London on the occasion of Elizabeth II’s funeral.
“Once again, it is seen that Bolsonaro did not go to England out of solidarity or sincere homage to Queen Elizabeth II. Bolsonaro kept his electoral campaign on the other side of the Atlantic full time, in a flagrant disrespect to the mourning of an entire nation,” denounced Senator and candidate for the October 2 presidential elections Simone Tebet.
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Lula da Silva, former Brazilian President and front-runner in the voting intentions for the October 2 presidential election, had already criticized Jair Bolsonaro’s behavior on Sunday.
Also read: Lula has 46% of the vote; Bolsonaro, 31%
Lula considered it “commendable” that Bolsonaro will attend the Queen’s funeral, but condemned the use of the trip to “make speeches” and “criticize the left.”
“Wouldn’t it be better (…) to visit families of people who died of covid[-19]?” questioned the Workers’ Party (PT) leader during a campaign rally in Florianópolis, capital of the state of Santa Catarina.
On Sunday, Jair Bolsonaro addressed about 200 supporters near the Brazilian embassy in London and stressed that polls attributing victory in the October 2 presidential election to former head of state Lula da Silva are wrong and said that the left wants to legalize drugs, strengthen abortion rights and also spoke about the dangers of gender ideology.
Also read: Majority of the Portuguese community in Brazil supports Bolsonaro
When questioned on Monday by a Brazilian journalist about his electoral success in London, on a trip representing the Brazilian nation, Bolsonaro became angry and left the press conference.
The latest poll released by Datafolha on Thursday of last week shows that Lula da Silva has 45% of voting intentions for the first round, against 33% for Bolsonaro.
The presidential election in Brazil has the first round scheduled for October 2 and the second, if necessary, on the 30th.
Currently, ten candidates are running for the Brazilian presidency: Jair Bolsonaro, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Ciro Gomes, Simone Tebet, Luís Felipe D’Ávila, Soraya Tronicke, Eymael, Leonardo Pericles, Sofia Manzano, and Vera Lúcia.
