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Lula could win Brazil vote in first round: poll

AFP

Leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has increased his lead over far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro 10 months out from Brazil’s elections and could win in the first round, a poll found Thursday.

Lula, who led Brazil from 2003 to 2010, has 48 percent of the vote to 22 percent for Bolsonaro, found leading pollster Datafolha.

Despite a push from the political center for a “third-way” candidate, no others reached double digits in the poll.

Ex-justice minister Sergio Moro has nine percent of the vote, former Ceara state governor Ciro Gomes seven percent and current Sao Paulo state Governor Joao Doria four percent, it found.

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Eight percent of respondents said they would cast blank ballots or abstain, while two percent were undecided, Datafolha said.

That means if the elections were held today, Lula would have enough votes to win in the first round. Brazilian electoral law requires a candidate to win more than half of all valid votes, subtracting blank and spoiled ballots.

Lula, 76, a charismatic former steelworker, was hugely popular as president. But his image was badly tarnished when he was jailed on corruption charges in 2018.

Lula, who calls the case against him a conspiracy, was released in 2019. The Supreme Court annulled his convictions this year, clearing the way for him to run again.

He immediately emerged as the top challenger to former army captain Bolsonaro, 66. The incumbent’s popularity has plunged amid a recession and his government’s missteps on Covid-19, which has claimed more than 615,000 lives in Brazil, second only to the United States.

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Datafolha’s previous poll, in September, found Lula with 44 percent of the vote to 26 percent for Bolsonaro.

Neither has officially declared a candidacy.

The new poll was carried out from December 13 to 16 with 3,666 respondents and a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.

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International

Brazil’s Lula wishes Trump a successful term focused on prosperity and peace

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wished the new U.S. President, Donald Trump, a “successful” term that promotes “prosperity and well-being for the U.S. people” and “a fairer and more peaceful world.”

“On behalf of the Brazilian government, I congratulate President Donald Trump on his inauguration,” said the progressive leader on his social media, shortly after Trump took the oath of office at the Capitol in Washington.

Lula, 79, highlighted that the relationship between Brazil and the United States, one of its most important trade partners, is “marked by a history of cooperation, based on mutual respect and historical friendship.”

“Our countries maintain strong ties in various areas such as trade, science, education, and culture. I am confident that we can continue to make progress in these and other areas,” he added.

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International

Iran hopes U.S. will adopt realistic approaches under Trump administration

Iran declared on Monday that it hopes the new U.S. administration under Donald Trump will adopt “realistic approaches” toward Tehran and show “respect” for the interests of the countries in the region.

The Republican tycoon will take the oath for his second term as president of the United States on Monday at noon Washington time (17:00 GMT).

“We hope that the approaches and policies of the new U.S. government will be realistic and based on respect for the interests… of the countries in the region, including the Iranian nation,” said the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaeil Baqaei, during a weekly press briefing.

During his first term (2017-2021), Trump implemented a “maximum pressure” policy toward Iran.

In 2018, under his administration, the United States withdrew from the international nuclear deal with Iran, concluded three years earlier, which offered Tehran relief from sanctions in exchange for assurances that the country would not seek to acquire nuclear weapons. Tehran denies any such intentions.

In response, Tehran significantly increased its stockpile of enriched materials and raised the enrichment threshold to 60%, approaching the 90% required to produce an atomic bomb, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Tehran, which has expressed a desire to relaunch negotiations to revive the deal, defends its right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and denies any intention to develop nuclear weapons.

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International

Trump to sign executive order recognizing only two sexes

Donald Trump will sign an executive order instructing his administration to “recognize” the existence of only “two sexes,” future White House officials announced on Monday, just before the Republican’s inauguration.

“What we are doing today is defining that the policy of the United States is to recognize two sexes: male and female,” said the official, speaking to the press on the condition of anonymity.

The aim of the decree is “to defend women against the ideological extremism of gender and to restore biological truth within the Federal Government,” the official added, explaining that a person’s sexual identity will be defined solely by the gametes they possess.

During his campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to put an end to the “transgender delusion.”

The elected president also plans to eliminate federal funding for programs supporting diversity in the administration, the same officials from his incoming cabinet stated.

“We are going to end this type of funding, we are going to put an end to these programs,” said one source from the future team, speaking anonymously about antiracism and diversity training courses.

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