Food is on the ballot in Brazil’s contentious presidential vote. While voters choose their president from among candidates favoured by the left and right in the polls, a new poll indicates that some voters on the right feel the vote is a meaningless exercise, with half believing their vote is for a puppet.
The survey, which will be published on Friday, found that 36 per cent of voters were against the president, with 25 per cent in favour. In an attempt to show the importance and significance of the vote, the survey asked voters to choose whether their vote was a vote for a puppet or president.
The result: 40 per cent voted for a puppet – just 17 per cent of voters supported the president, with 31 per cent supporting the candidate favoured by the right.
In a further attempt to demonstrate the importance of the election, the survey asked voters to choose whether their vote was a vote for a puppet or president.
A total of 40 per cent chose the puppet, while 31 per cent chose president. But the results of this poll should not be taken as a definitive endorsement of puppet candidates, who do have a place in Brazilian politics.
In the last election, all parties – including some on the left – nominated candidates who would maintain their seats in congress if the presidency were to be won via a second round, a system in which voters may be required to allocate preferences between the two candidates they prefer.
However, a significant number of left-leaning voters have long been critical of this system, describing it as rigged in favour of the president. In the last poll, 51 per cent of those on the right said that candidates with a second round were not worthy of the vote, and 49 per cent on the left did not.
But perhaps even more telling was the response to the survey’s second question, which asks voters how important the vote was.
Sixty per cent said it wasn’t important at all to them, 26 per cent said it was very important, 11 per cent said it was important somewhat and 2 per cent said it was important very.
In other words, many on the right feel that the vote in this election is meaningless. And many on the left feel that the vote in this election should not be viewed as important in the wider scheme of things.
Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo quoted leftist MP Paulo Bonfim as saying: ‘The polls have not demonstrated anything.’
The newspaper also quoted left-leaning MP
