By Anita Bielicka
UCR Class of 2015
At the moment, Brazil is pretty much on everyone’s lips for two prominent reasons: the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the presidential elections in October, which are estimated to be associated with more quarrels than usual. First, however, a short overview of the candidates: Officially announced so far are Dilma Rousseff, who is the current president and belongs to the Worker’s Party PT; Eduardo Campos of the Socialist Party PSB; Aecio Neves of the Social Democratic Party PDSB, and Randolfe Rodrigues of the Socialism and Freedom Party PSOL – while it seems unlikely that another candidate will be introduced in the future there are rumours that Soninha Francine of the Popular Socialist Party PPS might run as well. Even though Dilma Rousseff remains the predicted winner, Eduardo Campos has lately gained wide support by employing Marina Silva, former senator, as a running mate.
While Rousseff’s presidency itself has been far from controversial and was rather hailed as a success, there are issues left unaddressed that even the highly popular Rousseff cannot ignore any longer, starting with the high rate of corruption that still pervades almost every government sector: For instance, a dozen of PT members (Rousseff’s party) were found guilty of having been involved in a vote buying scandal in 2012. Furthermore, harassment and killing of journalists occurs on a high level year to year, with four journalists having been killed (most likely in connection to their work) in 2014 so far: Pedro Dalma, José Lacerda da Silva, and Geolina Lopes Xavier were gunned down in public, whereas TV cameraman Santiago Ilídio Andrade died from injuries he received during a demonstration in Rio de Janeiro.
Both corruption and harassment of journalists remain to be big problems in Brazil, and even though Rousseff’s administration has officially taken a harsh stance against it, there has been little improvement until now. In fact, Brazil has risen to a number 72 in the Corruption Perception Index ranking, as compared to 2012 in which it was placed as number 43. Next to the issues that have been debated continuously, the World Cup has now emerged as the prime topic of discussion this year for numerous reasons: Aside from the on-going arbitrary arrests of protesters and “strategic” military occupation of favelas in Rio De Janeiro, which have been criticised because only areas adjacent to rich neighborhoods and tourist passages are being secured, there is a growing resentment towards the high public costs that are related to the hosting of the World Cup, especially the construction costs of 12 new stadiums that are expected to cost about $4 billion in total, exceeding the original budget at about 300%. Particularly those in cities like Manaus, in which the Arena Amazonia will host four matches.
Since there is no regional first division football team in Manaus, it is expected that the stadium will not be of any use as soon as the World Cup is over – meaning that the residents of the city are left with the maintenance costs of a stadium that can be rendered useless, making the object a so called White Elephant. The reason why this is relevant to the elections is the fact that whoever will be elected in October is forced to make huge budget cuts in the public sector from 2015 on, as a result of the World Cup. Additionally, the lack in effective infrastructure has also already put a strain on Brazil’s economic growth so far, and hosting both the World Cup and the Olympics won’t necessarily improve the situation, to put it mildly.
So how can we conclude the outlook on the elections this year? As mentioned above, one can say for sure that the new president, be it Rousseff or someone else, cannot neglect the problems (which drive hundreds of citizens on the streets to protest) anymore, and cannot see the military or violent knockdowns of protests as part of the solution. Brazil needs real change, in order to ensure both its economic prosperity and political stability in the future.
Anita Bielicka, class of 2015, is a law & politics major from, Bremen, Germany.
