Large majority of the Portuguese community in Brazil supports Bolsonaro

The president of the Regional Council for Central and South America of the Council of Communities told Lusa that most Portuguese in Brazil support current President Jair Bolsonaro in the Oct. 2 elections.

“I don’t know who will win. But the community has a preference,” António Graça told Lusa, adding, “The Portuguese community has a preference for the current president.”

According to the latest poll by the Datafolha Institute, released Friday, Lula da Silva leads the voting intention for the Oct. 2 presidential election with 45 percent.

Still, Bolsonaro has again gained in voting intention and is now at 34 percent.

If necessary, the country will hold a second round of presidential elections on Oct. 30.

According to the president of the Regional Council for Central and South America of the Council of the Communities, the Portuguese community living in Brazil feels that the “economy has improved” and that the legal problems targeted by Lula da Silva are still very present in the community’s memory.

“Seventy percent of the community is on the side of the current president,” he said, wanting to “clarify” that a large part of the Portuguese community cannot vote and only reflects “the community’s point of view.

Nevertheless, the official believes that relations between the two countries will continue to improve regardless of who wins the Brazilian presidential election.

“Our relations between the two countries will always improve,” he said.

Speaking about the commemoration of Brazil’s bicentennial of independence, António Graça said last week that “the presence of the Portuguese president with the Brazilian president was good.

“They met at the Itamaraty Palace,” he added.

António Graça also recalled the last visit of the Portuguese president to Brazil in early July.

Jair Bolsonaro let it be known through the media that he would not receive Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in Brasilia, a decision he justified by saying he was meeting with former President Lula da Silva in São Paulo.

In his opinion and that of many members of the Portuguese community in Brazil, the Portuguese president made a mistake.

However, he stressed that “the misunderstanding that existed in the past when the former president was received at the Consul’s house in São Paulo” is now behind us.

“I think this situation has already been resolved,” he stressed.

Some critical voices, including Lula da Silva, stressed that the president of the Portuguese Republic deserved “more respect” from his counterpart Jair Bolsonaro.

On Wednesday, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa participated in the civil-military parade on Sept. 7 at the Esplanade of Ministries in Brasilia, right in the grandstand, next to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

It was an institutional ceremony with a campaign atmosphere in front of a crowd dressed in green and yellow, where shouts of support for Bolsonaro and slogans against former Brazilian President Lula da Silva, his opponent in the Oct. 2 presidential election, could be heard.

The head of state was addressing the Brazilian Congress in Brasilia in a formal session marking the 200th anniversary of Brazil’s independence, for which Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro had canceled his attendance at the last minute.