The meaning of the Brazilian elections

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Two presidential contenders: Luls Inaclo da Slive 'Lula' and Fornando Collor LULA PRESIDENTE Fernando Collor de Mello, the wealthy right-wing candidate of the National Reconstruction Party (PRN), became Brazil's first elected president in close to 30 years. He defeated Luis Inacio (Lula) da Silva, leader of the Workers Party (PT), in the second round of the presidential elections, obtaining 43.7 percent of the vote to Lulas's 38.9 percent. The elections took place Dec. 17.

The difference in the votes obtained by the two candidates-close to 3 million votes— came as a surprise to many political observers. Polls taken on the eve of the elections had indicated that Lula was not only quickly catching up to Collor, but was in fact surpassing him.

The Dec. 18 issue of the Rio de Janeiro daily Jornal do Brasil, one of the country's major newspapers, helps explain this discrepancy. In an article titled "Crimes of the Bus Owners," the editors denounce the "scandalous and criminal attitude of the owners of the bus companies who kept their The presence of Lula in the second round of the presidential elections confirms the change in the relationship of class forces in favor of the workers.

The victory of Lula over the various bourgeois candidates who taisely portrayed themselves as being on the "left," moreover, represents a step forward for the Workers Party (PT) and for the working class in general. 1 Lula's victory in the first round is a sign that the millions of exploited and oppressed people of Brazil aspire to independent, working-class solutions to their demands.

Yet while the presence of Lula on the ballot represents a victory for working peoplé, the PT's election campaign [during the first round] suffered from some grave political deficiencies that must be pointed out.

The first concerns the results in the cities and regions where the PT had elected mayors and city councils. By and large, in these regions the PT results were very poor, demonstrating that the masses wanted more than promise of change; they wanted a real buses in the garage on election day to prevent the voters in the electoral strongholds of PT candidate Luis Inacio da Silva from BRAZIL going to the voting booths. This is : shameful maneuver that is inadmissible ir any serious country and that can only un a internacional somal da Corrente interna do PT. Luta polo Sacuadremo Edição extra - nov/89 dermine the elections. Those responsible must not go unpunished."

Indeed, in the major cities of Brazil where Lula was way ahead in the polls, the private bus owners prevented hundreds of thousands of voters (some estimates place the number in the millions) from going to the polls. In a public communiqué dated Dec. 18, the PT leadership also denounced this "fraudulent and illicit attempt to favor the candidate of the PRN."

This month we begin a two-part series on the elections in Brazil. The main piece below contains an assessment of the first round of the elections, which took place on Nov. 21. In those elections, Collor and Lula came in first and second, respectively, out of a field of 24 candidates. (The two front-runners then had to face each other in the Dec. 17 runoff elections.)

This document was published in late November by Luta Pelo Socialismo, a current of supporters of the Fourth International who are a tendency inside the Workers Party. It is reprinted here in an abridged form.

In our next issue we will publish a more in-depth assessment of the Dec. 17 elections and of the new political situation created by the victory of Fernando Collor de Mello.

- the editors