Indigenous and Transgender Candidates Win in Brazilian Elections
After the first round of Brazilian elections on October 7, international media organizations were quick to focus on the rise of the far-right political ideas endorsed by presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro. However, there were also several progressive triumphs in the election, with the first indigenous woman elected to the National Congress and the first transgender woman elected to the state legislature in Sao Paulo.
Joenia Wapichana, a 43-year-old indigenous lawyer, won the election for federal deputy for the state of Roraima, the northernmost and least-populous state in Brazil, as a member of the environmentalist Sustainability Network. There has only been one other indigenous elected deputy in Brazil’s history, Mario Juruna. Wapichana has a history of firsts when it comes to representation, as she is the first indigenous person to graduate from a Brazilian law school and the first indigenous lawyer to argue in the Supreme Federal Court.
This election year saw a massive increase of 50 percent in the number of indigenous candidates running for office with over 131 candidates running for various elected offices. Wapichana was the only indigenous winner, but indigenous activists are hopeful that this will be the turning point of their representation in a government that has frequently cut budgets for the National Indian Foundation.
Meanwhile in Sao Paulo, Érica Malunguinho became the first transgender woman elected to the state legislature. Malunguinho, an Afro-Brazilian activist, founded Aparelha Luzia, an influential black cultural space renowned throughout Brazil, two years ago and has frequently spoken up for the LGBTQ and Afro-Brazilian communities. The murder of Marielle Franco, a queer Afro-Brazilian legislator in Sao Paulo, and the subsequent lack of serious government inquiry encouraged Malunguinho to run for office to continue Marielle’s agenda.
Malunguinho, a member of the Socialism and Liberty Party, was one of over 50 transgender candidates in this year’s election despite Brazil being one of the most dangerous countries in the world for transgender people, with 179 transgender individuals killed in 2017. This is a sizeable increase from the five trans candidates that ran for office in 2014. At the national level, Bolsonaro, a transphobic and anti-indigenous politician, won the runoff presidential election on October 28. In 2017, Bolsonaro stated that there would not be single centimeter allocated to indigenous reserves if he were to be elected.
Despite the dangerous circumstances for transgender and indigenous peoples, there have been positive developments regarding transgender and indigenous rights in recent years. Earlier this year, the Supreme Federal Court ruled that people could change their gender identity on government documents simply by asking. Previously, changes required sex reassignment surgery and court filings. The Supreme Federal Court reinforced indigenous land rights in 2017 with a ruling that established indigenous rights to certain demarcated lands in Brazil.
Although the first round of the Brazilian elections on October 7 revealed a rightward shift in the political system, the elections of Malunguinho and Wapichana are promising signs for Brazilian progressives.