Following the election of ultra-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro as president on October 28, left MPs and party leaders in Brazil have warned about the dangers that a reformed military government could bring to the country.
Guilherme Boulos of the Solidarity and Freedom Part (PSOL), Gleisi Hoffman of the Workers’ Party (PT), Luciana Santos from the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) and PT federal deputy Paulo Pimenta, said that the situation demands immediate resistance and democratic protests are already planned against the ultra-right offensive. Without exception, they highlighted the threat to democratic rule of law and the nation’s sovereignty that Bolsonaro represents.
PT president Gleisi Hoffmann said: “Our first response on this day, October 28, is: We will resist. We will resist in defence of the rights of the people. We will resist in defence of the freedoms we have, we will resist in the name of national sovereignty. For Brazil, for the Brazilian people.
“We will stand together with the people in any situation, in any circumstances. We have always viewed our struggle as a long march. An electoral defeat cannot come to represent a defeat for our constitution and Brazilian democracy.
“We will continue marching forward, always.
“This election is the result of an election process that was defective and fraudulent from the start. From the moment they stopped Lula being a candidate, to the refusal to recognise United Nations decisions, to the failure to hold any election debates, and, lastly, the monstrous machine of lies and fake news spread on the internet.
“We must lift our heads and fight, because this is our trench.”
Guilherme Boulos, the national leader of the Movement of Workers Without Roofs (MTST) and PSOL's presidential candidate, said: “We are now going to work to build a broad front for democracy with all those who did not hide in the second round, with all those who chose to be on the right side of history: on the side of social rights, on the side of democratic values.
“Jair Bolsonario is a real threat to democracy. We are going to build this broad front and will be out on the streets.
“Bolsonario won an election without any debates and by hiding behind lies on Whatsapp, lies funded by [illegal funds] and by fraud. Just because he was elected doesn’t mean that he is the Don of Brazil. There will be democratic resistance in this country.”
PCdoB president Luciana Santos added: “Given the results of these elections, more than ever, the militant action that took over the streets in the last part of the campaign will need to expand and be present.
“We will resist the agenda that they are trying to impose on the country, an ultraliberal one, with a government that has all the hallmarks of being a dictatorship, given everything that was said during the campaign of the winning candidate.
“That is why, more than ever, we will need to resist. We will need to mobilise and denounce what is at stake in Brazil and the threats that exist to the rights of workers.
PT federal deputyPaulo Pimenta said: "Our democracy has suffered a strong blow against our sovereignty and the individual rights and guarantees of our people. More than ever, we need to demonstrate our capacity for resistance, for struggle. We need to show these fascists that there will be a lot of resistance and struggle.
“We will not allow them to try and impose a dictatorship, which would take from our people the opportunity, the desire and the hope for happiness.
“We got a big vote. We are on our feet, prepared and determined to continue mobilising and struggling for our dreams. Dictatorship, never again.”
PSOL president Juliano Rodrigues said: “In the second round, we could not remain indifferent to the threats our democracy and social rights were under. That is why we joined this democratic struggle, which became a very beautiful struggle.
“I want to tell all those who were part of this national and democratic mobilisation that they should be congratulated.
“There were 47 million people who joined this democratic resistance. We have a concrete basis from which to build a large popular resistance.
“No one will be able to trample on our rights without confronting resistance. No one will be able to trample on democracy without there being a large popular resistance.”
[Translated from Brasil de Fato by Federico Fuentes.]