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Haddad accuses Bolsonaro's team of fake news about him and his family

Friday, October 5th 2018 - 08:34 UTC
Full article 41 comments
Haddad accused Bolsonaro of sending false WhatsApp messages, including one that the leftist was plotting to let authorities choose the gender of 5-year-olds Haddad accused Bolsonaro of sending false WhatsApp messages, including one that the leftist was plotting to let authorities choose the gender of 5-year-olds

The leading leftist candidate for Brazil's presidency accused front-runner Jair Bolsonaro of spreading falsehoods about him and his family on social media, as new polls showed the far-right candidate's lead widening with days before the vote. The accusations marked a shift in strategy for Workers' Party candidate Fernando Haddad, who had earlier avoided direct attacks on Bolsonaro.

Haddad accused Bolsonaro of sending false WhatsApp messages, including one that the leftist was plotting to let authorities choose the gender of 5-year-olds. Another showed a manipulated picture of his running mate Manuela D'Avila wearing a shirt that read “Jesus is a transvestite.” A third featured the candidate supposedly saying election day had been switched from Sunday Oct. 7 to Monday.

Haddad had been steadily rising in the polls due to the endorsement of jailed former Lula da Silva, who has been barred by the courts from running. But three new polls this week showed his momentum stalled with Bolsonaro building on his lead in Sunday's first round of voting.

The polls also showed the two in a dead heat in an expected Oct. 28 runoff, even though the far-right candidate has been unable to campaign in person and has had limited television exposure after being stabbed during a Sept. 6 campaign event. He was released from the hospital on Saturday.

Haddad had largely avoided direct attacks on Bolsonaro until now, apparently because Workers' Party strategists thought the far-right congressman would alienate so many voters that he would be easy prey in the second-round runoff.

Bolsonaro is noted for comments about gays, women and minorities considered offensive, as well as expressing nostalgia for Brazil's past military dictatorship.

The polls' result surprised many analysts because it came after Bolsonaro had an apparently bad week. A protest led by women against him on Saturday had a large turnout, friendly fire from his running mate gave ammunition to his rivals and one of his ex-wives accused him of hiding assets from tax and electoral authorities, and of threatening her life.

The Worker's Party opened a WhatsApp channel to counter the social media smears and said it had received more than 5,000 reports of falsehoods being spread on messaging apps within the first 12 hours.

“It seems Bolsonaro's campaign is acting very strongly with fake news against my family, my work as education minister,” Haddad said. “These are very vulgar accusations, with vulgar images.”

Categories: Politics, Brazil.

Top Comments

Disclaimer & comment rules
  • DemonTree

    Lies and fake news, the favourite tactic of the far right.

    Oct 05th, 2018 - 09:52 am 0
  • :o))

    Mutual Mud Slinging is nothing new - NORMAL - when too much is at stake [to gain]!. Surprisingly, so far these attacks appear to be too mild! :o))

    Oct 05th, 2018 - 11:43 am 0
  • Chicureo

    As Terrence Hill argues clearly in is earlier insightful recommendation for the Brazilian public to vote for Bolsonaro who would also win a runoff against any rival by a margin of at least 10 percent. (A second-round runoff will happen if no candidate wins 50 percent of the vote.)

    Bolsonaro, a former army captain, says he would include generals in his cabinet and allow police to shoot criminals dead if they are fired at. He has taken an early lead with widespread support for his tough anti-crime and anti-graft stances and has a clean record among an electorate fed up with political corruption.

    The signs that Bolsonaro is gaining momentum led Brazil's stock index up to a near five-month high and its currency to its strongest level in almost two months.

    Again, everyone needs to agree with Terrence's remarkable intellectual argument that Brazil is currently on the correct path to vote for the right, not the Socialist-Communist left.

    ¡Viva Brazil!

    Oct 05th, 2018 - 02:15 pm 0
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