Plataforma CIPÓ’s Executive Director, Maiara Folly, was one of the sources interviewed for a report by the French newspaper Le Monde on the role of the climate agenda in Brazil’s elections. The article was published on September 27 by the newspaper’s Rio de Janeiro correspondent, Anne-Dominique Correa.
The report notes that Brazilians will go to the polls on October 4 and 25 in elections expected to be highly competitive. The country is facing a severe drought, while the effects of a historic El Niño are beginning to be felt. Even so, environmental issues have taken a back seat in the electoral debates. The article also highlights that, in order to implement its agenda, the government needs to negotiate with Congress. According to Le Monde, the opposition currently holds 257 of the 513 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 37 of the 81 seats in the Senate.
Assessing the political landscape after the October 4 vote, which will renew the Chamber of Deputies and part of the Senate, Folly warns that “there is a significant risk that Congress could become even more conservative and resistant to the environmental agenda, as the right has placed a strong emphasis on the Senate and could gain a majority there as well.”
