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Oi gente!! Tudo bem?
In Brazil, unlike Japan, voting is compulsory. When you turn 18 (the age of majority), you "must" go to vote in an election. 16-17 years old youngsters also can choose to vote, although this is not mandatory for them.
Brazil is 23 times larger than Japan. There are still 6.8% of the illiterate population, but off course such people also have the right to vote.
The tenure of the presidency in Brazil is four years. The presidential election was held on October 2nd 2022 as the term of office will expire in 2023. As I wrote earlier, in Brazil, elections are a citizen's duty (Dever (duty) do cidadão (of citizens)). Therefore expatriates must vote as well.
Brazilians who don't prefer bad weather tend to cancel their appointments at the last minute, like saying that "it's raining or strong winds", but on election day, they "definitely" go to vote. Of course, those who cannot go to the polls for some reasons can register their absence in advance. But It will affect their social life in various ways, such as not being able to take the civil servant exam, not being able to borrow money from specific banks, etc. Hence everyone goes to vote basically.
Also, if you do not follow the procedures for absenteeism and fail to vote, you will have to pay a fine. The fine is about $1, so it's not a big amount, but the impact on social life is a big deal, so everyone goes to the polling place regardless of rain or strong wind.
On account of this background, many Brazilians strongly feel the importance of each vote. When I came to Japan, I took a voting for granted, but when I heard about the low vote rate (something like 30%) in Japan, I was really shocked.
In addition, people going to the polls wear Brazilian T-shirts and clothes with Brazilian colors as one way of expressing their love for their country. People are really excited by strong volition like "We will decide a person who will helm the country ! !"
Brazilians are enthusiastic not only in soccer, but also in politics. Sometimes we argue about the politicians we support😅. Friendships can also be broken by disagreements about politics, so please be careful when you discuss politics with Brazilians!
In Brazil, election tickets are not sent to the people unlike Japan. Electorates have their own voting cards. When they turn 16 years old, they apply the card and they will continue to use the card from then on. It might be efficient to reduce administrative costs for sending election tickets every time like Japan.
You must bring that card and photo ID to prevent illegal voting. When you vote in Japan, you can vote with the election ticket without showing your ID. I guess this comes from faithful society of Japan. This is another difference between Japan and Brazil.
This year, a smartphone app called "e-titular" was introduced, and if you enter your personal information, you can see where to vote. In Brazil, digitalization is progressing rapidly. Although digitalization is progressing, you still have to bring a photo ID to prevent fraud.
Voting is done by machine, not by hand as in Japan. Just press the number, not the candidate's name. There are pros and cons to this mechanical voting system, and incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro does not supportive of it, saying that "it is likely to be fraudulent". President Bolsonaro is conservative, so he may be skeptical of new things.
A high profile in this election is the battle between the incumbent president Bolsonaro on the right and the former president Lula on the left.
Currently, left-wing governments are being established one after another in Central and South America, and in the vote on October 2nd, the left-wing ex-President Lula won the top vote.
The result of the presidential election on October 2nd 2022 is
Lula 48.12%
Bosonaro 43.47%
However, even the top Lula did not obtain a majority of the votes, so a runoff vote will be held on October 30, 2022. However, it seems that there are many opinions among the people that "A Plague on both your houses"
By the way, the current president Bolsonaro won the vote in Japan. On the other hand, former President Lula won overwhelmingly In Australia, China and South Korea. I'm very curious about the reason why there is such a difference.
In Brazil, as shown by the percentage of votes mentioned earlier, the result was like splitting Brazil into two. Bolsonaro has the upper hand in the south of Brazil, while Lula has the upper hand in the north.
There are many poor areas in the northern part of Brazil, and there are still many people who cannot read or write. In these areas, candidate Lula, who grew up in a poor family, won. On the other hand, the southern part of Brazil is the center of politics and economy, and there are many wealthy families, and Bolsonal won in there. It has been reported many times that former President Lula is extremely popular among the poor, and the result is just that.
One commentary in newspaper said that "Dissatisfaction among people towards current politics was on the rise in Latin America. And the COVID-19 fueled that and widened disparity among people. This is the background of the establishment of leftist governments in Latin America one after another." How about Brazil? We will see what will happen at the end of October.
Here are some Portuguese words related to elections. ・Candidates: Candidato ・Election: Eleição ・President: Presidente ・Former president: Ex-presidente ・Vote: Votar ・Voting: Votação ・President Bolsonaro: presidente Bolsonaro ・Former president Lula: Ex-presidente Lula
In the following video, these Portuguese words are used, so please try to listen them. Also, in the video, you can see a white box with wires coming out. This is a mechanical voting box I mentioned.
Thank you for reading!!
Obrigada!!!
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