LULA DA SILVA IS INTERVIEWED BY CNN

Brazil Was Stolen Part 4 | Fourth Live Audit Results of the Brazilian Elections 2022
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Area Brazilians concerned over presidential election results
Some say the election was stolen, that there was no possible way Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the presidential election with 50.9% of the vote. Others say that tensions have split families into camps, each side rarely broaching the subject of politics.
Supporters of Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro protest against President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
People gather during a protest on Monday, Nov. 7, 2022, held by supporters of Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro against President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who won a third term following the presidential election run-off, at the Army Headquarters in Brasilia, Brazil.Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters
By C.S. Hagen
November 08, 2022 04:25 AM
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FARGO — Local Brazilians, just like their friends and relatives in their home country, are troubled by the Oct. 30 presidential election results, which have been called the “most divisive vote in Brazil’s history.”
Some say the election was stolen, that there was no possible way Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the presidential election with 50.9% of the vote. Others say that tensions have split families into camps, each side rarely broaching the subject of politics.

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For two days after Da Silva was declared Brazil’s next president, incumbent Jair Bolsonaro kept silent, which fueled theories that the far-right leader was planning a hostile takeover of the country. He later agreed that power would be peacefully transferred.

The election, which required two rounds of voting on Oct. 2 and Oct 30, was tight, with Da Silva, better known as Lula, winning by 1.8% against the former army captain Bolsonaro.

Since Brazil’s presidential election, truck drivers have blocked major roadways demanding military intervention. Protests clogged city streets in support of Bolsonaro. The current president spent months claiming that the Brazilian electoral system was vulnerable to fraud, according to international media outlets.

The tension and claims of voter fraud are not dissimilar to what happened in the U.S. following the 2020 presidential election, according to media outlets, and the aftershocks of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol that are still being felt today with an ongoing special U.S. House panel investigation .

Cris Calil, a local Brazilian, said she’s going back to Brazil later this week to join protests against what she believes was election fraud.Special to The Forum
Cris Calil, a local Brazilian, said she’s going back to Brazil later this week to join protests against what she believes was election fraud.

“It’s not possible he (Lula) won the election in the right way. It was a fraud. I am going to the streets to fight with everyone there. I am thankful for my friends doing this for me. We need to show that we don’t want this guy again,” Calil said.

Lula, a member of the Worker’s Party, was the 35th president of Brazil from 2003 until 2010. He is slated to be sworn in as the nation’s 39th president on Jan. 1, 2023.

In 2017, Lula was convicted on charges of money laundering and corruption and sentenced to more than nine years in prison. He spent 580 days in jail.

The Supreme Federal Court in 2021 nullified Lula’s convictions and his political rights were restored, allowing him to run for the nation’s top office again.

“He is a criminal, he just left the jail, and then our Supreme Court didn’t look at our Constitution,” Calil said.

Brazil was Stolen image that is ciruclating on social media platforms.jpeg
Brazil was Stolen image that is circulating on social media platforms.Special to The Forum
Karina Odland said she became a U.S. citizen last month, and that she too wanted Bolsonaro to win, but doesn't doubt the election results.

“I was very sad after the results, because it was very close. The country is really divided, we can see,” Odland said. “It’s a good process that we have there. There are some people that say that there could be something wrong with the electronic system for voting, but it’s very effective."

Odland said she feels the political tension with her family in person, and online. “Sometimes discussions happen there and we have to say, ‘Hey, let’s stop this, we want peace within the family,'" she said.

"We have to respect everyone, even if it’s not the same opinion. As a family we love each other, we want to keep that,” Odland said.

Cesar Carvalho self portrait from airport on way to back to Brazil..jpeg
Cesar Carvalho is a U.S. citizen living in south Fargo. He was returning back to Brazil for vacation on Monday, Nov. 7, when The Forum reached him. He too was upset about the election results.Special to The Forum
Cesar Carvalho is a U.S. citizen living in south Fargo. He was returning back to Brazil for vacation on Monday, Nov. 7, when The Forum reached him. He too was upset about the election results.

Calling Lula a “dictator” and a “thief,” Carvalho said the former president should not have been allowed to run for office again. He talked about online censorship and corruption at the highest levels of the judicial system, adding he believes the election was fraudulent.

“We are expecting the Army or something to help us," Carvalho said. People are in the streets and the Army needs to stop that and ask for another election, he said.

Carvalho, Odland and Calil feel a similar tension within the U.S. on issues related to elections.

“I believe it’s wrong for democracy. If you prove that there was fraud in Brazil, it would have a domino effect right here in the U.S.,” Carvalho said.

Calil believed the same election failures occurred in the U.S. "There was no way that Biden won the election. I think he won because everyone voted by mail," she said.

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“I am trusting in the military and we the people here and in Brazil," Calil said. "We have the most power. We have to fight for our freedom or our wishes to come true."

Odland said she noticed a real change in politics and the economy after the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It’s totally different when I got here and now the country is divided," she said.

RELATED TOPICS: ELECTION 2022GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

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