Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Elections in the Americas - Brazil's new president



Brazil had its Presidential election on Oct. 31st and elected their first woman president, Dilma Rousseff. Not everyone is in favor of her as she is following in the past president's footsteps, President Lula.

But she is their first woman president, which is exciting. She is from the governing Workers Party (PT), and took 56 percent of the vote, against 44 percent for José Serra of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB). Brazilians clearly voted for the continuity of the policies of the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, especially the social policies, whose results were reflected in the reduction of inequality and the fact that more than 20 million people were pulled out of poverty during his eight years in office. Dilma has pledged to eliminate extreme poverty by the end of her four-year term, in 2014. An estimated eight percent of Brazil's 192 million people are still extremely poor. Wow, I would say that the U.S. could use a bit of the same help too!

Analysts say Rousseff's victory was the direct result of Lula's popularity, which stands at an unprecedented 83 percent, despite the corruption scandals that have affected his government. Can you imagine a U.S. President receiving an 83% popularity rating these days???

I think it's interesting, though, that Brazilian women gained a limited right to vote in 1932, which only applied to married women who had their husbands' permission, widows, and single women with incomes of their own. The vote was only extended to other women in 1946. Whether you agree with Rousseff's politics or not, her past is pretty amazing. She was arrested in 1970, tortured, and held as a political prisoner for 28 months in São Paulo. After her release she moved to Porto Alegre, farther to the south, where she finished her degree in economics, became municipal secretary of finance, and later state secretary of mines and energy.

The U.S. could take a few lessons from Brazilian elections, in my opinion. For one, elections there are held on a weekend. Gee, what a novel idea, a day that people may not be working! I know there was a reason we originally had elections on a Tuesday, but why are we so slow to change this?? Or, at the very least, Election Day should be a national holiday. Many people didn't even go to the polls in the U.S. November elections. In Brazil, voting is mandatory and the night before the election they stop serving alcohol in bars by midnight;) Of course, there are ways around this, but the idea of trying to keep people in a rational state of mind when they go to vote doesn't seem like half a bad idea.

May both Brazil and the U.S. witness more just and equal societies in years to come.

No comments:

Post a Comment