See who in the economy declared support for Lula or Bolsonaro

In the dispute for influence over voters in the second round of these elections, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and Jair Bolsonaro (PL) have sought support from political parties and figures and used photos, videos and statements in their campaigns.

Three days after the election, Bolsonaro sealed a deal with governors of three states in the Southeast, the region with the largest number of voters in the country. Lula, on the other hand, obtained the adhesion of former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the PDT of Ciro Gomes and Simone Tebet (MDB).

Important actors in the economy —analysts, researchers, technicians, executives and entrepreneurs — also took a public stand. This Wednesday (6), four creators of the Real Plan released a letter in support of Lula.

Economists Edmar Bacha and Pedro Malan, former Finance Minister of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, released a note joined by Armínio Fraga, former president of the Central Bank, and Persio Arida, another economist who participated in the formulation of the Real, had already announced this option, but also sign the note.

On the side of the Bolsonar campaign, associations of São Paulo agribusiness entrepreneurs (Federation of Agriculture and Livestock System of the State of São Paulo/National Rural Learning Service) and names close to the president, such as Luciano Hang.

See below how the electoral support is in this second round for president.

Lula

The Economist persio arid, one of the creators of the Real Plan, declared his vote for Lula this week, saying that Bolsonaro is a risk to Brazil’s institutional stability. In addition, he says that the current government has not delivered what it promised in the economy, such as tax reform and progress in privatization.

“In my opinion, there is no justification for Bolsonaro’s permanence in power,” said the economist.

Arida’s position came a day after Arminio Fraga, another notorious liberal economist in the country, has signaled support for the PT. His motivation was the new composition of the Congress elected this year, more conservative and favorable to the Bolsonaro government.

“The most important thing for Brazil today is to improve politics, guaranteeing the most basic, democracy, transparency in decision-making in the economic sphere. We need to restore calm to the country, an environment that allows us to broaden horizons and take care of Brazil’s development “, said Fraga.

the economist Monica de Bolle he also cites the newly elected parliamentarians to justify his vote for Lula in the second round.

“We need, at this moment, a counterweight to the articulated movement of the extreme right seen in Brazil and in other parts of the world. The result of the congressional elections shows a scenario that transcends Bolsonarism and sews religious fundamentalism with agribusiness. take root in institutions to such an extent that it will not be possible to hold this process,” she says.

De Bolle also says that Bolsonaro’s re-election can, for example, “pass a tractor” on the environmental issue.

Other names in the Brazilian economy had already expressed their support since the first round. It was the case of Henrique Meirellesformer president of the BC (Central Bank) during the Lula government, who considers the PT to be the best option among the candidates, as long as there is fiscal responsibility, including respect for the spending ceiling.

“The experience I had in BC [Banco Central] in the Lula government was positive. Despite misrepresentations [de Lula]I hope that reality [das medidas a serem tomadas para a Economia] prevail and, if prevailing, would tend to think that if there are indications that he is going to go in that direction [de seus mandatos passados]I think it is a good option”, said Meirelles in an interview with Sheet.

The campaign to join the former president was also marked by collective demonstrations in support of him. On September 26, pro-Lula economists published a manifesto to ask for votes for PT in the first round. The group, which brought together around 30 professionals, is made up of names such as Laura Carvalhoprofessor at USP, Michael Franceresearcher at Insper and columnist at Sheetand Guilherme Melloone of those responsible for the PT’s economic program.

“There are those who vote for Lula because of his economic agenda and those who vote with reservations to this agenda, but we all recognize that, on any basis of comparison, the economic, social and institutional results of his government are incomparable with the debacle promoted by Bolsonaro,” the letter reads.

The following day, another group of economists, linked to institutions such as FGV, Insper, PUC-Rio, USP, UFF and UFPE, also released a letter in support of PT, in defense of a useful vote for Lula in the first round.

Among the 38 signatories are Cláudio Considers (FGV Ibre), Laura Karpuska (Insper), Laura Schiavon (PUC-Rio), Mayara Felix (Yale), Octaviano Canuto (ex-IMF and ex-World Bank) and columnist for Sheet Sergio firm (Insper).

“In spite of serious disagreements regarding policies implemented in the past by PT governments, we recognize in ex-President Lula the only leadership capable of defeating the biggest backwardness represented by the current government”, says the document.

The former president also received support in the first round of economists André Lara Resende, Felipe Salto and Nelson Marconi.

In the business world, Carlos Ernesto Agustin worked with the former president in this year’s campaign and was one of PT’s main bridges with agribusiness. He is one of the largest soybean seed sellers in the country and created the company Petrovina more than 40 years ago, which also produces cotton.

Bolsonaro

Support for Jair Bolsonaro is justified among economists by the president’s defense of liberalism. Former President of Banco do Brasil Rubem Novaesfor example, who was nominated for an institution by Bolsonaro, cites the liberal economic agenda and the defense of individual freedoms to declare a vote for the president.

“Furthermore, I consider it inadmissible that someone with Lula’s moral curriculum can apply for the Presidency of the Republic”, he says.

Former IPEA President Carlos Von Doellinger claims to be a liberal economist, with a tendency towards conservatism. “Therefore, my support is for Bolsonaro in this second round”, declares Doellinger.

Bolsonaro has used liberal discourse since the 2018 election campaign and has, in the figure of the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, its greatest symbol. Guedes graduated from the University of Chicago, a pole of American liberal thought, and promised the privatization of “all state-owned companies”, structural reforms (such as tax and social security) and zeroing the government’s fiscal deficit.

In government from the beginning, Guedes was called by Bolsonaro the “Posto Ipiranga”, for allegedly having all the answers to the government’s economic agenda, and he once held the position of “super minister”, but lost strength throughout his term. Even so, he remains at the side of the president.

Partner of Guedes, doctor in economics from UnB and self-proclaimed bolsonarista Adolfo Sachsida He has also been a member of the president’s team since 2019. He entered the government as Secretary of Economic Policy, proving to be a faithful follower of Guedes’ ideas, and is now Minister of Mines and Energy.

Bolsonaro also has a team of businessmen who support him. Roberto Justus, for example, said that electing former president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in the 2022 elections would be a “fearful and worrying” return to the past. “I much prefer the continuity of the president,” he said days before the first round.

Despite saying that he is not completely satisfied with the president, Justus says that there have been advances in the Brazilian economy during his administration.

Luciano Hang, owner of Havan, is one of the main business supporters of Bolsonaro. He has been at the president’s side since the beginning of his term and frequently participates in events in support of the government.

After the result of the first round, the bolsonarista celebrated and said that this year’s election is about a spiritual war and a dispute of ideologies, and not about “picanha and beer”, repeating an expression that Lula often uses to refer to a favorable economic scenario for the consumption of the population.

“Brazilians must understand what is at stake so that they can vote with more awareness. It is the future of each one’s family and of the next generations,” he said in a statement.

The businessman sent the position through a statement on Whatsapp because he has been blocked from social networks since August, by decision of STF Minister Alexandre de Moraes, on account of his participation in a group on the network in which a coup was defended if Lula wins. the election.

In addition to Hang, the group included businessmen José Isaac Peresby Multiplan, Marco Aurelius Raimundofrom Mormaii, and Afrânio Barreirafrom the Coco Bambu Group, among others.

The owner of Havan was not the only bolsonarista to celebrate the result of the first round.

Gabriel Kannerfrom the family that owns Riachuelo, published a message saying that the right has consolidated itself as a more mature political force than in 2018, referring to the new composition of Congress.

“There is only right x left. Whoever stayed in the middle lost”, wrote the businessman.

Winston ling, known as the businessman who introduced Bolsonaro to Guedes, published a photo wearing a shirt printed with the flag of Brazil in the voting line and even suggested that there was fraud in the Electoral Justice app. “What technology is this that leaves the App stuck for so long!!! #fraud?????”, he wrote.

For Bolsonarista businessmen, it is possible to achieve a victory in the second round, even with the close dispute.