BRASÍLIA — When Brazil’s two leading presidential candidates formally launched their campaigns on Sunday, both made a calculated bet on the same voting bloc: women, who make up nearly 53% of Brazil’s 158 million eligible voters — a majority large enough to decide an election already trending toward a statistical dead heat.
How Lula Made His Pitch
At his rally before more than 10,000 supporters at Vila Euclides Stadium outside São Paulo, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva shared the stage with first lady Rosângela da Silva, who served as one of the event’s main speakers.
Lula framed gender equality in explicitly generational terms: “Men need to learn from childhood that they are no better than women. We need to be equal,” he told the crowd, with Rosângela nodding beside him.