Brazil - Brasil - BRAZZIL - News from Brazil - Dr. Eneas Carneiro. No Brazilian Representative got so many votes ever - Brazil Politics - November 2002



 

Brazzil
Politics
November 2002

The Phenomenon

With almost 1.6 million votes, Enéas made history during
Brazil’s latest elections becoming the most voted House
Representative ever. The Brazilian press and the elite,
however, consider him a right-wing lunatic as dangerous
as French far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Carolina Berard

Enéas Carneiro, 63, has been regarded as a peculiar and intriguing figure in Brazil’s politics since his first appearance on TV as a presidential candidate, in 1989. There is good reason for this. First, despite having very little time to speak on TV during the free electoral hour as a presidential candidate in 1989, 1994 and 1998 (only 15 seconds in 1989), he stood out because of his curious appearance, barking tone and signature signoff: “My name is Enéas.”

Second, his appearance certainly is, to be diplomatic, exotic (even he jokes he is an extra terrestrial): the skinny, bald, long-bearded physician is 5’ 3’’ and wears thick glasses. Despite so outlandish a look he became popular among voters and has a whole host of female followers: “I always have some female friends that take care of my beard,” he boasts.

At the very beginning of his “career” as a candidate, the votes he received were primarily protest votes. If the “serious” options were not satisfactory, Enéas could be an alternative. Over time, despite his minuscule party (PRONA – The Party of the Reconstruction of the National Order), Enéas gained more fans, even among those whose intention was not purely to protest. Some chose him simply because “he is funny,” while others focused more on his extreme right-wing and nationalist proposals, such as the end of privatizations, default on the foreign debt and the building of an A-bomb.

Such popularity was not enough, though, to elect him president. Knowing that, and strategically planning PRONA’s political future, he changed his plans. During the 2002 elections, he ran for the House as a representative from the state of São Paulo and received 1,558,000 votes—the most ever recorded for a House representative in Brazil. For PRONA, this means more than the long-awaited victory of their “master,” as they call Enéas. It means a precious opportunity for the party to grow. Due to Brazil’s political system, according to which a certain number of seats are awarded to political parties based on their electoral support, Enéas managed to “elect” five other representatives (four physicians and a lawyer), four of which received just a few hundred votes.

The party can hardly conceal its satisfaction, even though they claim nothing of this is surprising for them. “I expected this result,” said Enéas in one of the several interviews he has given since the election. What he might have not expected, though, is the amount of journalists packing his modest office. He was even invited to speak on popular TV shows such as that of Luciana Gimenez, whose affair with Mick Jagger led to the birth of their son Lucas.

At the same time, much of public opinion (the media, political analysts and politicians) is not thrilled by his victory and especially by the election of the five deputies. The President of the Senate, Ramez Tebet, for example, considered the five deputies’ election an aberration (one of PRONA’S deputies received 275 votes, while candidates from other parties, with as many as 80,000 votes, could not be elected). This electoral victory has led many representatives of the political elite of the country to agree upon the urgency of political reform, so that this does not happen in the future.

Enéas, who is already nervous by nature, becomes even more irritated when asked about the criticisms he has received. When told that the election of his party-mates was considered unfair, he emphatically replied: “the concept of justice in politics is quite strange. Is it fair, for example, for a man who never did anything in life to have a chance now just because he is a union leader, a strike-organizer or a rioter?,” referring to Lula and his lack of experience. As opposed to Lula, Enéas argues, he has always studied hard. He and his supporters always emphasize his work as a doctor and his studies in mathematics and physics.

Enéas and PRONA will have to put into practice their so-called political abilities when they get to Congress. In interviews, he appears to be the type that does little but attack, instead of presenting clear proposals. “The positive side of Enéas’ election is that he will have to prove if he is a good politician or not,” said political scientist Fernando Abrúcio in an interview with Correio Braziliense, a daily from Brasília. Their mandate will be an opportunity for them to show the electorate something other than an angry posture.

Carolina Berard is a translator in Brazil. She worked as a translator and journalist for the portal MultARTE Brazilian Culture www.multarte.com.br and has translated texts on various subjects ranging from economic integration to popular culture in Brazil. She is currently doing freelance translations and articles for several publications. Her email: carolinaberard@hotmail.com or kerolmb@ig.com.br


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