By: Antony Pinedo Cordova
Brazil is the largest country by population and production in South America.
What happens on Oct 5th, the day of the presidential elections, will transcend the political environment in all of Latin America.
Dilma Rousseff, the current president and candidate of the Workers Party, and Marina Silva,
candidate of the Socialist Party, are the representatives who are most likely to be chosen.
The choice of one or the other will lead to substantial changes that extend beyond Latin America and into international politics.
Dilma Rousseff has implemented policies that are friendly towards Venezuela and Cuba.
She has also has sought to strengthen two forums: one political, Union of South American Nations; and the other economic, BRICS (the acronym uniting the five major emerging national economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).
Her election would further deepen the support for non-democratic systems such as Venezuela and Cuba, and the implementation of an Alternative Development World Bank.
Meanwhile, the religious Marina Silva is an activist for ecology and human rights, and has explicitly said she will actively challenge irregularities in Venezuela and support a democratic transition in Cuba.
This would be a substantial change in the entire Latin American political scenario, as this decade has been a setback in the process of democratization in Latin America.
Undoubtedly, this candidate would conduct further reforms about how a democratic government in the region should be understood.
All Brazilian citizens between the ages of 18 and 70 are required to vote, even if they do not live in the country. There are justification forms for not voting which can be filled at election centers and post offices
What happens on Oct. 5 will be important because two women can be passed to a second round and the choice of one of them will continue one phase or be the beginning of a substantial change.
opinion@fiusm.com
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