Brazil: Lula and Bolsonaro court the evangelical vote

Alongside the moral battles lies a less visible arena: that of communication. Evangelical television and radio stations have a huge following. A pastor who speaks to millions of listeners every evening exerts an influence that no political rally can match, and social media amplifies this presence, often blending preaching with political messages.

In 2022, this pact was at the heart of the clash between Jair Bolsonaro and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Today, according to Datafolha polls on the eve of the run-off, around two-thirds of evangelical voters were backing Flavio Bolsonaro, whilst Lula sought to narrow that lead with messages aimed at the faithful, including a “Carta ao Povo Evangélico”, a letter to evangelicals.

The evangelical vote is not a monolithic bloc: it is a contested electorate, and may prove decisive precisely because it is geographically dispersed. Both candidates are negotiating for significant blocks of votes.

Brazilian political analysts, including Viviane Costa, author of *i* *Traficantes evangelicos* , published by Godbooks, explain that the evangelical vote is not automatically right-wing. There are progressive communities that prioritise employment, social justice and the environment. However, in the most recent presidential elections, the majority of the faithful demonstrated a conservative leaning, with 75 per cent of evangelical voters supporting Flavio Bolsonaro.

However, there is also a strongly critical perspective on the Neo-Pentecostals. Claudileia Lemes Dias, a Brazilian legal scholar and author of the book *The Chains of Brazil*, published by L’asino d’oro, explains that large communities have converted to Neo-Pentecostalism whilst living under the authority of one or more drug traffickers who proclaim themselves to be pastors. ‘Pastors who draw inspiration from biblical figures characterised by violence and cruelty, who in the sacred narrative ultimately find divine redemption and give rise to cities or kingdoms: the logic is “I’ll buy my way into Heaven with drug money” – which is rather disturbing.’

Lemes Dias explains that Edir Macedo (a fabulously wealthy Brazilian preacher and founder of the IURD, one of the most important evangelical churches) ‘used money from the Colombian drug trade to buy the Record television network’.

Tomorrow’s run-off will show us to what extent the Churches influence this vote. But their influence is a well-established fact: in the chambers of Congress, on the radio, in suburban canteens and in the evening prayers of millions of Brazilians.