Tag Archives: Politics

Brazilian Presidential Elections – Plínio de Arruda

Posted on 27. Sep, 2010 by in Brazilian News, Politics, Technology

With just a couple of weeks until elections, I still don’t know who I’m going to vote for as president, but one of the candidates I hadn’t even considered who continues to impress me in the presidential debates, is Plínio de Arruda Sampaio, who is the candidade for PSOL (Partido Socialismo e Liberdade), who is 80 years old, and a long shot at winning the race, but I think because of this, he’s not afraid to call the other candidates out on their mistakes, continues to alert the public we need to know who we’re voting for and to make responsible decisions… and he’s quite funny and was my entertainment in last night’s debate.

Check out video of Plínio de Arruda encouraging the public to use Twitter!

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What is Plínio telling us about how Twitter is a useful tool for elections?

All Tied Up? – Brazilian Elections 2010

Posted on 31. May, 2010 by in Brazilian News, Politics

This will be my first time voting in a presidential election in Brazil, and I must say, I’m not as excited as I wish I’d be.  Personally, I’m not crazy about any of the likely candidates…  But political opinion aside, it’s still pretty fun to keep track of and read up on what candidates have to say!  And in the spirit of Colombia’s intense presidential elections yesterday, I thought that until the elections, we can talk about them a little bit.

Let’s start off with a blog post from Eleições 2010.net on the matter, shall we?

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Uma história ficcional geralmente é divida em três atos: início, desenvolvimento e conclusão. A corrida presidencial deste ano parece seguir um script sem precedentes, com uma parte só sem definição: seu final, que ocorrerá após a população brasileira, em outubro, eleger novo representante para o país.

Ano passado, José Serra (PSDB), ex-governador de São Paulo e pré-candidato à presidência da República, estava muitos pontos à frente de Dilma Rousseff (PT), ex-ministra da Casa Civil, nas várias pesquisas eleitorais. Nas últimas semanas, porém, a diferença tem diminuído e de tanto isso acontecer, eis que o instituto CNT/Sensus já indicava a petista líder na disputa, embora o empate técnico seja o constatado.

Desta vez, a pesquisa Datafolha também assinala a mesma característica: 37% para cada um. Segundo o portal de notícias G1, estudo divulgado em 17 de abril indicou o tucano com 42% das intenções entre os eleitores, enquanto Dilma tinha em suas mãos somente 30%. Marina Silva (PV), terceira preferida pela população, manteve os mesmos 12 pontos percentuais constatados há um mês.

Será que Serra manterá o discurso de os “números reais são aqueles registrados nas urnas eletrônicas”? Até lá a novela poderá ter seu fim, mesmo antes de ele chegar.

Vale ressaltar que a margem de erros na pesquisa Datafolha é de dois pontos, para mais ou para menos.

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What does the post tell us about the candidates?  Is it a close race or not so  much?  If so, who’s all tied up?

Listening Comprehension – Politics Meets Finance

Posted on 26. Apr, 2010 by in Brazilian News, Politics, Technology

This year is a presidential election year in Brazil, and I’ve been playing around with this tool that the brokerage firm Souza Barros put together, called BOVAP (Bolsa de Valores Políticos) to help Brazilians learn more about their politicians.  Watch the video below to see how it works and then try to answer some of the questions below the video, and let me know what you think of the initiative and if you’d like to play!

1. What popular notion is BOVAP trying to end?

2. What market’s logic does the tool use?

3. What do you buy and sell on BOVAP?

4. What is the currency the tool uses called?

Answers after the break

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