Bolsonaro ally says Brazil agricultural industry can adapt to Lula victory

• A victory by former President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva would not be catastrophic for Brazil agricultural industry.
• Senator Wellington Fagundes downplays the threat of Bolsonaro’s attacks on an electronic voting system.
• Former Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina Dias is a strong candidate for the Senate presidency.

The chairman of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s party and the Senate farm caucus stated on Friday that the Brazil agricultural industry is pragmatic and will adapt to the inevitable win of the incumbent’s left-leaning opponent.

Senator Wellington Fagundes, who was re-elected on Sunday to represent Mato Grosso, the leading grain-producing state in Brazil, told an international news agency that he expects Bolsonaro will be re-elected. A victory by former President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva would not be catastrophic for the agricultural sector.

“Farmers will jump into Lula’s lap the day after he is elected. They are very pragmatic,” said Fagundes, who has represented Mato Grosso in both houses of Congress for twenty years.

Fagundes stated that he expects Bolsonaro will surrender power without fighting the result of the runoff election on October 30 if Lula wins, downplaying the threat posed by the president’s attacks on Brazil’s electronic voting system.

He attacks the electoral system because he is a provocateur,” the senator said of Bolsonaro’s unsubstantiated assertions that the country’s electronic voting system is susceptible to fraud.

Lula received the most votes in the first round of the election on Sunday, with 48% of the vote to Bolsonaro’s 43%. Bolsonaro surpassed polls amid a wave of conservative populism. His pro-gun stance and resistance to native land claims have made him the darling of many agricultural industry leaders.

After the election, the right-wing Liberal Party of Bolsonaro became the largest party in both houses of Congress.

Fagundes stated that former Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina Dias, who gained a Senate seat on Sunday, is a strong candidate for the next Senate presidency.

He stated that another recently elected Bolsonaro loyalist, former Women’s Rights Minister Damares Alves, has “zero” chance of obtaining the seat.

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