Brazilian Voters Stuff It Up

Cup Day, 5 November 2002

Pursuing my new-found interest in Latin American politics, I found this report of the Brazilian presidential election at VOANews.com. It seems that the Brazilians got it wrong and elected leftist candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. He won roughly 51 million votes, about 61% of all votes cast. The report has some interesting quotes from prominent US politicos. I especially liked this one:

Constantine Menges, former national security council aide in the Reagan administration warned Mr. da Silva could create what he called a new "axis of evil" if he formed a partnership with Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

I'm considering changing my voting habits at the next Federal election. One axis of evil was bad enough - now we have the prospect of a second. The prospect of Australia, New Zealand and Canada being lumped into a third is truly chilling. I think it's safer if we all vote Liberal.