Lula's Victory in First Round to Bring Peace to Brazil: Alckmin

On Thursday, Geraldo Alckmin expressed that the Brazilian post-election environment will probably be calmer if the far-right President Jair Bolsonaro is defeated in the first round.

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"it's better for Brazil because we will get out of the confusion and fights, which can suddenly turn into deaths. Accidents and tragedies can happen," said Alckmin, the vice-presidential candidate running alongside Workers' Party candidate Lula da Silva.

So far, all voting intention polls show that the Lula-Alckmin binomial will emerge victorious in the elections on Sunday. Some polls even forecast that Lula will win in a single round with over 50 percent of the valid votes, that is, excluding blank and invalid votes from the count.

Over past weeks, democratic politicians, intelectuals, opinion leaders have expressed concern about the possibility of violent actions by Bolsonaro's supporters on election day, especially in rural areas and in the poorest neighborhoods.

Right-wing militias and Bolsonaristas could try to discourage citizen participation in the elections in order to prevent the victory of the Workers' Party leader. This scenario is not remote considering that the Brazilian president himself has threatened to ignore the elections and, last week, he even dared to affirm that it is "impossible" for Lula to win in the first round.

Recently, the Bolsonaristas have been associated with violent armed actions against citizens who have expressed their support for Lula da Silva. Among the most reported incidents are the attack on a pregnant woman and the murder of two Workers' Party supporters. Federal and subnational authorities are investigating these facts.

On Friday, the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) prohibited the carrying of weapons by citizens from Saturday, October 1 to Monday, October 4. This decision was approved with the favorable vote of all the judges and at the suggestion of the police chiefs of the 27 states of the country.

This ban even covers shooting clubs, which have multiplied exponentially in Brazil thanks to the arms policies promoted by Bolsonaro, a former Captain whose electoral hopes are focused on capturing the vote of the most conservative Christians.