Lula tries to break the mistrust of the Brazilian business community in the face of his possible electoral victory

Lula da Silva speaks during a meeting with intellectuals on September 26, 2022, in São Paulo.NELSON ALMEIDA (AFP)

The Brazilian Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva leads all the electoral polls for the presidential elections this Sunday.

He sweeps among the poorest and young people, but he has a difficult time with businessmen and bankers, a group historically resistant to the leftist ideas of the leader of the Workers' Party (PT).

On Tuesday night, Lula met with nearly 140 of them.

He did it behind closed doors, at an event organized by the Sphere think tank in the city of São Paulo, the heart of the Brazilian economy.

The guests listened to Lula's commitment in the fight against poverty and Brazil's return to the international scene.

But they had to remain without knowing details of the economic plan that the candidate will implement if he finally reaches the Planalto Palace.

Lula's lack of economic definitions has earned him reproaches among those who expect solutions to curb inflation-today at 8% per year-or contain the demands of environmentalists against the advance of the agricultural industry in the Amazon jungle.

He has also not given the name of his eventual economy minister.

However, there was applause for the progressive candidate during the meeting with the economic power.

“Everybody asked him to reset the parameters of the economy to end better growth.

And Lula asked for the vote”, summarized João Camargo, director of Sphere, at the end of the meeting.

The call exceeded all expectations.

Esfera had prepared a list of 100 guests, but finally the number reached 137. “A madness”, said Camargo, evidence of the expectation caused by the favorite in the polls.

Lula arrived accompanied by Geraldo Alckmin, the man from the center right who has been chosen as his number two on the ballot of the alliance of a dozen parties, in addition to the workers' party (PT) that he leads.

Alckmin was a tough electoral opponent of Lula in the past and now gives the candidate a veneer of predictability on economic matters.

"It has been a plural meeting, as is Brazil," Alckmin told reporters, highlighting the presence of former finance ministers from non-PT governments.

“There was talk of the need for a tax reform and to strengthen the industry.

The reaction was good and positive.

Those present at the meeting with Lula had to leave their phones at the entrance, to avoid leaks.

The fear was that the candidate's declarations would circulate, because businessmen take good care not to spread their own political opinions.

Four businessmen declined to speak to this newspaper about the electoral landscape and the economy because "at the moment it is very risky," in the words of a businessman who was at the dinner.

Only one of those consulted agreed to give his name and, instead, the owner of a powerful textile company spoke, but requested anonymity.

"The Brazilian business community knows the rules of Lula's political game and knows how it will behave if he wins," said the latter, implying that part of his colleagues will mark PT in the electronic ballot box on Sunday. .

“That same business community knows about President Bolsonaro's inconstancy and change of mood, which does not allow him to anticipate how he will behave himself.

Bolsonaro is not up to the climate that is experienced worldwide, ”he added.

Support for Lula from economic power is divided by region.

The south of Brazil is mostly for the re-election of Bolsonaro, but Lula is becoming strong in the southeast and in some areas of the north.

“In general, those who employ many people are for Bolsonaro.

The banks and the financial market are closer to Lula”, explains the source.

Felipe Prata, director of Nest Asset Management, a company dedicated to financial services, rescues Bolsonaro's economic policy, but warns that the president and candidate for re-election does not seem to have "things very clear" about the general direction of the Government.

“That's why Lula is there once again, because we don't have another candidate.

The media, the businessmen, made some money with Lula.

And they know the economy is going to get better because it's already getting better.

Lula is going to put people who will not create problems”,

The atmosphere is that of a vow to the lesser evil.

At the end of July, a group of powerful businessmen and employers joined the million signatures gathered by an open letter created at the Law School of the University of São Paulo in support of “democracy and the electoral system”.

The text did not mention Bolsonaro, but said in one of its paragraphs that Brazil was going through "a moment of immense danger for democratic normality, risk for the institutions of the republic and insinuations of contempt for the results of the elections."

It was a reaction to the doubts that the president raised about the security of the electronic ballot box system that has been used in Brazil for 25 years.

Last Tuesday, the newspaper

published the manifesto of a group of economists not related to the PT that called for a useful vote because "Lula is the only valid option to defeat the current government, which supposes a greater backwardness."

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