Tereza Cristina Correa and Damares Alves, former Ministers of Agriculture and Women respectively during the administration of Jair Bolsonaro, secured a seat in the Senate following beating their rivals during the general elections held this Sunday in Brazil.
Two of the ministers of the President’s Government Jair Bolsonarowho resigned from office to be able to contest the legislative elections this Sunday in Brazilwere elected senators, according to data from the electoral tribunal.
The evangelical pastor Damares Alves, who was the head of the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights, was elected senator for the Federal District of Brasilia, while the deputy Teresa Cristina Correawho was the Minister of Agriculture, was elected senator for the state of Mato Grosso do Sul.
Both were the only women in the cabinet of the far-right leader for much of his term.
According to the electoral authorities, with 90% of the votes counted, Damares Alves had 644,904 votes (45.04%) and might no longer be surpassed by deputy Flávia Arruda, another former Bolsonaro minister, who had 383,541 votes (26. 79%).
As the two favorites in the dispute for the only seat in the Senate for Brasilia at stake were his ministers, Bolsonaro preferred to refrain from expressing his preference.
However, Damares Alves, an evangelical leader with radical positions on issues such as abortion and drugs and who contested an election for the first time in her life, had the explicit support of the first lady, Michelle Bolsonaro.
The former Minister of Women was nominated by the Republican Party, a formation directly linked to evangelical groups, especially the influential Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, while Arruda had the support of the Liberal Party (PL), the force behind the who belongs to Bolsonaro.
The evangelical leader raised the conservative flags defended by Bolsonaro throughout her campaign, such as the total rejection of the decriminalization of abortion and drugs.
Tereza Cristina Correa, a veteran militant of the right-wing Progressive Party (PP), won Luiz Henrique Mandetta, who was Bolsonaro’s Minister of Health when the pandemic began and ended up resigning, in the dispute for the senator’s seat in Mato Grosso do Sul. position for his clear differences with the head of state regarding the management of the health crisis.
According to the vote count, following 77% had been counted, the former Minister of Agriculture had 61% of the votes and might no longer be reached by Mandetta (15.46%).
The former minister had the clear support of Bolsonaro in the dispute over the seat and only confirmed her candidacy following the president ruled her out as a possible running mate as his vice-presidential candidate.
Several of the candidates for governor, senator and deputy supported by Bolsonaro managed to be elected this Sunday.
In the dispute for the presidency, with 52.21% scrutinized, Bolsonaro led the results, with 46.3% of the valid votes, and surpassed former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (44.86%), who was designated as the favorite in all the polls.
