Opinion – Rubens Barbosa: Elections will determine external perceptions about Brazil

On Sunday, in the elections, the results may (if there is no second round for the president and governors) consecrate the name of the president of the Republic, governors, senators, federal and state deputies in all states. It is hoped that there will be no contestation of the results or disturbances promoted by radical groups against the institutions, especially the STF. The military has given clear signals that it is ready to defend democracy and institutions.

We have been living, for more than a year, an intense electoral campaign. It unfolded, however, in an unusual way. Instead of debates about Brazil’s internal and external challenges, we are perplexed by personal attacks, fake news and the creation of a climate of suspicion about the fairness of the election, without any serious discussion about proposals to forward solutions to the existing problems and much less about a medium and long term vision.

To top it off, on Thursday (29) we had the surreal and depressing debate between the candidates, without any substantive discussion between those leading the voting intentions.

Whatever the outcome of the presidential election, we are faced with a framework of uncertainty, precisely because of the absence of a debate on critical issues that affect the country’s political, economic and social life. When the country resumes its path of growth and reduction of inflation, what will be the economic policy? How to accelerate the fall in unemployment? How to generate sustainable growth? How to pass unavoidable reforms in Congress? How to recover the country’s credibility and define its place in a world that has changed in recent decades? It changed the world and it changed Brazil.

On the first day of his administration, the future president will face two immediate problems, not to mention hunger, health, employment, tax and administrative reforms, the relationship between the Executive and the Legislative, and other monumental issues that are still pending: disorganization of the Brazilian State and the definition of Brazil’s place in the world.

In several areas –such as the environment, health, education, foreign policy, social security– there was a dismantling of the State bureaucracy that must be reestablished to allow the articulation for the execution of the new policies.

In view of the multiple implications for Brazil, alongside these social and economic concerns, the future government will have to consider how to change the external perception of the country. In this sense, the world –which has closely followed the presidential election with repercussions– will follow what will happen to Brazilian democracy, how the election results will be received by candidates and their followers, what environmental policy will be like and the treatment in relation to to the illicit acts committed in the Amazon, how Brazil will position itself in the face of the growing global division with the worsening of the crisis between the USA and China, with the complicating factor of the war in Ukraine by the action of Russia.

For Brazil, it is important that the decisions that are taken are not contaminated by the radical ideology of the right or the left or by geopolitical considerations that clash with the concrete interests of the country. At the present time, the best position to protect national interests will be independence, without taking sides on either side.

Depending on the position that the new government will adopt on these issues, investment will be at stake and the eventual inclusion of Brazil as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and entry into the OECD.

External attention on the election in Brazil has grown in recent weeks, to the point that the US Senate has unanimously approved a resolution by which the US government must suspend all agreements with Brazil in the event of an impact on democracy or violence. against institutions by questioning the results of the elections.

Brazil needs political and economic stability to be able to grow, generate income and employment. The more than 150 million voters expect whoever is elected to put Brazil first, above partisan or ideological interests.