Brazil president: High abstention rate a message to politicians

Brazilian President Michel Temer said Monday (Oct. 3) in Buenos Aires that the high abstention rate in the municipal elections held Sunday (2) serves as a message from the population to the political class in Brazil. In his view, this should be taken into account so that politicians and parties review “possible inappropriate habits” in Brazilian politics.

“There's definitely a feeling of disappointment towards the political class in general. You can't say it's party A or B in particular. We have 35 parties in the country, nearly all of them with candidates for mayor. Nonetheless, abstention was significant,” said the president after meeting with Argentine President Mauricio Macri.

Temer, however, stressed that, despite the abstentions, the municipal elections represented the exercise of democracy: “I think it was a message given by the ballot in two fronts, the first of which being that those in the political class should beware. On the other hand, we must celebrate the democracy formed over the course of time, which was exercised in yesterday's elections,” he added.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira