By the way, Artur Costa, a businessman who has lived between the state of Rio de Janeiro and Brasília since 2003, establishes a difference between voters: the Portuguese, like him, who spent most of their lives in Portugal and still follow the day-to-day life of country of origin and those who, because they are children, grandchildren, even great-grandchildren of emigrants, are, in fact, much more Brazilian than Portuguese.
“I think there are Portuguese voters, like me, who support Sporting every weekend and cheer with Gyökeres’ goals and those Portuguese voters who don’t even know who Gyökeres is”, he summarizes. “That is, the children, grandchildren and other descendants of Portuguese people who emigrated in the last century and who vote in Portuguese elections are much more Brazilian than Portuguese and, therefore, much more susceptible to the political and social agenda of Brazil than of Portugal” .
“And these Portuguese people”, continues Costa, “being, in most cases, well off because their parents, out of nowhere, built a nest egg or even fortunes, have a tendency to adhere to Bolsonarist ideas”. “Now, when they see on social media, which are their main source of information, that on one side is the left-wing PS, whose government fell due to corruption, and on the other is Chega, which talks about ‘God, Fatherland, Family’ and also in public security, which is not so much a problem in Portugal, but it is, a lot, in Brazil, they have no doubts about who to vote for”, he adds.
Igor Lopes, with the authority of someone who follows the daily life of the Portuguese-Brazilian community, even served as “electoral advisor”. “These new Portuguese, many of whom have never been to Portugal, even turned to me and others from the community who are always back and forth asking which candidate would be the best… President of the Republic”. “Because they don’t know the country’s political system, nor which parties are right or left, nor who is moderate or radical, and, therefore, they ended up voting for those who best reflected what they believe in Brazil. Hence the transfer of votes from Bolsonaro to Chega”, he continues.
