The first time she voted in a Brazilian presidential election, in 2014, Larissa Campelo voted for centre-right Senator Aecio Neves.
asserted
Campelo → vote → Neves
Four years later, in the next presidential race, she supported a centre-left candidate, former Sao Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad.
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she → support → candidate
But ahead of what is expected to be one of Brazil’s tightest presidential run-offs ever, the 30-year-old mother of one has decided she has had enough with politics.
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she → expect → politics
She is abstaining from the vote on Sunday, just as she did during the first round of the election on October 4.
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she → abstain → October
But Campelo is part of a historically large chunk of the electorate sitting out this year's presidential race.
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Campelo → sit → race
Some 33.4 million Brazilian adults did not show up to vote in the first round, resulting in a 21 percent abstention rate, the highest for a general election since 1998.
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adults → show → 1998
“It’s my form of protest.
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It → ’ → protest
I don’t want to dirty my hands with these candidates,” said Campelo, who lives in the Sao Paulo city of Araraquara.
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who → want → Araraquara
It’s because I don’t feel there’s anyone qualified enough to earn my vote.
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I → ’ → vote
But appealing to abstaining voters like Campelo may prove to be a path to victory in Sunday's run-off.
uncertain
appealing → appeal → off
A dead heat
The final vote features two presidential candidates well known in Brazil's political establishment.
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vote → feature → establishment
The left-wing contender, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is the incumbent president, seeking an unprecedented fourth, non-consecutive term in office.
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contender → seek → office
His rival, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, is a member of a far-right political dynasty, hoping to follow in the footsteps of his father, imprisoned former President Jair Bolsonaro.
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rival → hop → father
In the first round of voting, Bolsonaro won 47 percent of votes cast, surpassing Lula’s 45 percent.
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Bolsonaro → win → percent
Just 2.2 million ballots separated them, out of more than 158.7 million registered voters.
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ballots → separate → voters
The final round is set to be even tighter.
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round → set → ?
The research firm Quaest published a poll on Wednesday that showed the two candidates in a statistical deadlock.
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candidates → publish → deadlock
Bolsonaro earned 50.5 percent of respondents' support, well within the margin of error for Lula's 49.5 percent.
But experts say polarisation within Brazilian politics has created a population of voters unwilling to cast a ballot for either Lula or Bolsonaro.
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polarisation → earn → Lula
In the Quaest poll, 52 percent of respondents said they would never vote for Bolsonaro.
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they → say → Bolsonaro
Some 47 percent said the same for Lula, although the pollster noted that the president’s rejection rate had fallen six points in a week, in a promising sign for the incumbent.
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rate → say → incumbent
A polarised political climate
Joao Guilherme Bastos dos Santos, a director at the Democracy in Check Institute, an independent research nonprofit, explained that polarisation reinforces the public's disengagement with politics.
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polarisation → explain → politics
In a deeply divided political landscape, dos Santos pointed out that voter behaviour often changes.
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behaviour → divide → landscape
Voters can become motivated by fear.
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Voters → motivate → fear
In turn, they are more likely to vote in opposition to a candidate than in support of one.
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they → vote → one
"That creates profound exhaustion," dos Santos said.
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Santos → create → exhaustion
"The fighting seems to go nowhere."
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fighting → seem → ?
Campelo, the mother in Sao Paulo, echoed that sense of exhaustion.
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Campelo → echo → exhaustion
Her decision to stay home during Sunday's election was motivated in part by her rejection of Brazil's deeply antagonistic political culture.
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decision → stay → culture
"Politics in Brazil has become like supporting a football team," she said.
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she → become → team
"Politicians do things wrong, and people keep defending them.
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people → do → them
It makes no sense."
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It → make → sense
The morning of her interview with Al Jazeera, Campelo said her husband's family broke into an argument over Lula on their WhatsApp group.
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family → say → group
"People are adopting their own pet politicians," she quipped.
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she → adopt → politicians
Abstaining voters like Campelo are a diverse group, according to experts.
uncertain
voters → abstain → experts
Their reasons for dodging the ballot box can vary dramatically.
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reasons → dodge → box
Mayra Goulart, a political scientist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, said that those who actively reject Lula and Bolsonaro may only be a minority of Brazil’s abstainers.
uncertain
who → say → abstainers
"Life is difficult enough that they don't have the headspace, time or resources to devote to politics," she explained.
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she → have → politics
Luciana Veiga, a political science professor at the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, also pointed out that Brazil’s abstainers are not merely a bloc of disillusioned voters waiting to be won over.
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abstainers → point → voters
They may have practical considerations that prevent them from casting a ballot.
uncertain
that → have → ballot
“We cannot say that abstention is simply a political 'no' to voting," Veiga said.
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Veiga → say → ?
…and 31 more, not listed.
The Aporia
