The PDT candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, Ciro Gomes, said today (26) who will continue with his candidacy until the end of the election and criticized the campaigns for the so-called useful vote. He made the statement at the campaign’s central committee in São Paulo, broadcast on social media.
“Nothing will stop my willingness to move forward to wield the flag of the new national development project and, also, to denounce the corrupt, fakers and demagogues who try to deceive the popular faith with their false promises”, he said. “My candidacy stands to defend Brazil under any circumstances. And my name is still posted, as a firm and legitimate option, to rid the country of a cowardly present and a fearful future”, he added.
Last week, Latin American intellectuals and politicians released a letter asking for Ciro Gomes to withdraw. The objective is to reinforce the useful vote, still in the first round. In the so-called useful vote, the voter understands that, when voting for a certain candidate who does not lead the polls, he may be wasting his vote, so he ends up voting for someone with a better chance of winning.
Ciro criticized what he called the polarization of the electoral campaign. “To eliminate, at its root, the diversity of the democratic struggle, they try to transform it, artificially and prematurely, into the clash of two forces that use false moral arguments to become hegemonic,” he said. “The powerful machines of Lulismo and Bolsonarismo are managing to deceive the popular perception, passing on the false idea that only one can defeat the other”, he highlighted.
For the pedetista, the useful vote argument deprives citizens of the right to express society’s plurality of ideas and values. “In the final stretch of the emptiest campaign in history, they pack everything into the false argument of the useful vote. With this preaching, they want to eliminate the freedom of people to vote in the two-round regime, first for the candidate who most represents their values and, if that is the case, to later opt for those who are closest to their ideas,” he said.
The first round of this year’s elections will be next Sunday (2) and the second, in October 30.
