Re-elected Brazilian president Lula da Silva, who last night became the first-ever candidate to overturn a first-round deficit to defeat fascist rival Flavio Bolsonaro, has said that he and his supporters had to defeat foreign interference to win.
US and Israeli interference
Da Silva overcame heavily-funded attempts by the US and Israel to install the pro-Israel Bolsonaro, who is far friendlier to both colonial powers. Social media company meta also blocked or limited his campaign accounts before the first round and severely restricted circulation of pro-Lula posts in the second. In his speech, he added that Brazil is now going to regulate social media companies to hamper any future interference attempts:
We had to overcome foreign interference through digital platforms, which we will have to regulate.
We cannot have monstrously huge corporations earning millions & billions, paying no taxes to this country and trying to steer this country’s election results.
‘MAGA’ accounts are complaining that polling booth opening times were extend by two hours. However, both candidates had requested an extension because transport problems – in some cases deliberately created by right-wing mayors – were preventing voters reaching voting stations.
The historic result came on the same night that Serbian students defeated authoritarian Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić, raising hopes that the rise of the far right through foreign suppression and disinformation may at last be stalling. But given Bolsonaro Sr’s planned coup when he lost in 2022 and Trump’s kidnapping of Venezuela’s Maduro, another attempt can’t be ruled out yet.