The Brazilian government has guaranteed safe elections despite prophecies of doom.
Brazilian Justice Minister Anderson Torres said Saturday that Sunday’s presidential, legislative and regional elections would be absolutely safe.
“On Sunday, we will have a safe election. We will ensure security so that the Brazilian people can freely exercise their right to vote and move peacefully through the streets,” Torres said at a press conference announcing the planned mobilization of police and military for the elections.
“We are not moving toward war. We are moving toward an election,” the head of the Justice Ministry added, who will be responsible for coordinating the overall security plan during the elections in collaboration with regional police forces.
According to Torres, some 500,000 police and security forces will be mobilized nationwide on Sunday to ensure voting rights.
The plan will be reinforced by deploying armed forces to 568 of the country’s 5,570 municipalities, mainly in the Amazon and in cities with high levels of violence, such as Rio de Janeiro, which has requested the support of the armed forces to guarantee security.
The government guaranteed security after human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch called on authorities recently to guarantee Brazilians’ right to vote peacefully.
The polarization in the presidential election, with Socialist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT, left) and conservative leader Jair Bolsonaro (PL, right) vying for re-election, has prompted some conspiracy theories in Brazil’s leftist-dominated media.
Election authorities have, as a precaution, banned the carrying of weapons two days before the elections and the day after.
The security issue was also addressed today by the president of the Superior Electoral Court, Alexandre de Moraes, who called on Brazil’s 156.4 million voters to go to the polls in “peace, security, and harmony.”
Some polling agencies have even that Lula da Silva could win as early as the first round tomorrow.
Bolsonaro, on the other hand, has said in a tone of deep conviction that he will win tomorrow in the first round of voting with at least 60%.