Lula fast-tracks Brazil welfare payments days before run-off vote

{"text":[[{"start":9.02,"text":"Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government is fast-tracking welfare payments to poorer Brazilians before a presidential run-off vote, as the veteran leftwinger makes a last-gasp effort to close the gap on his rightwing rival."}],[{"start":22.02,"text":"Ahead of the tiebreaker ballot on Sunday, the 80-year-old leader is slightly trailing in polls to Flávio Bolsonaro, the 45-year-old senator who topped the first-round vote earlier this month."}],[{"start":32.34,"text":"Lula’s administration this week said it was accelerating transfers under Bolsa Família, a benefit received by 19mn households, with all October’s deposits to be sent by Wednesday. Normally the welfare programme pays out across the last 10 days of every month."}],[{"start":48.56,"text":"Brasília argued the move was to mitigate the potential effects of an unusually strong El Niño weather pattern, including drought and flooding. The change will apply until the end of the year."}],[{"start":59.36,"text":"However, opponents accused the government in Latin America’s largest democracy of electoral inducements aimed at boosting Lula’s push for a fourth non-consecutive term. The leftist has said it will be his final electoral campaign."}],[{"start":72.52,"text":"“Bringing forward the Bolsa Família payment was yet another blatant electioneering ploy, among so many others,” said Eduardo Ribeiro, head of the rightwing Novo party, which has endorsed Bolsonaro. “Using El Niño as a justification is embarrassing, even by the standards of [Lula’s] Workers’ Party.”"}],[{"start":90.24,"text":"The Bolsa Família disbursements will be the first to incorporate a 15 per cent increase Lula announced last month, taking payments to an average of R$777 (US$154), which the opposition also decried as vote-buying."}],[{"start":105.26,"text":"The previous hard-right president Jair Bolsonaro, the jailed father of Flávio, adopted similar tactics before his failed 2022 re-election run against Lula."}],[{"start":115.12,"text":"He was later found guilty of plotting a coup and sentenced to 27 years, which he is serving under house arrest on health grounds."}],[{"start":122.32,"text":"Lula’s current government has in the past advanced payments under the cash-transfer initiative in regions affected by natural disasters."}],[{"start":129.4,"text":"Lula’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":133.72,"text":"Lula has also in recent weeks pledged debt relief for individuals, free public transport on weekends and extra financial support for students from low-income backgrounds. Critics say such largesse will burden Brazil’s strained public finances."}],[{"start":147.48,"text":"Some polls in recent days have suggested the former trade unionist is narrowing Bolsonaro’s lead. The conservative scion gained 47 per cent of votes in the initial ballot on October 4, with an almost two-point advantage over Lula, but short of an outright majority required for victory."}],[{"start":164.04,"text":"Eduardo Grin, politics professor at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation, said the latest government measure could have some electoral effect, but added: “I suspect the time remaining between now and the election might not be enough to mobilise the number of voters Lula needs.”"}],[{"start":178.96,"text":"Introduced in 2003 during Lula’s first term, Bolsa Família was credited with lifting millions of people out of poverty and became his signature policy. It is tied to child vaccinations and school attendance."}],[{"start":191.5,"text":"The welfare scheme has moved to the centre of the election debate, with Lula’s supporters suggesting that spending reductions promised by Bolsonaro will hit benefits and public services. The opposition candidate has insisted he will not cut social programmes."}],[{"start":210.42,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1792553946_8355.mp3"}