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Elections in Brazil: Michelle and Janja, two key figures in the campaigns of Bolsonaro and Lula

While the Brazilian First Lady leads evangelical acts, the wife of the PT candidate articulates her husband’s relationship with artists and influencers.

Sociologist Rosângela da Silva, popularly known as “Janja”, does not miss a Lula da Silva act, while Michelle Bolsonaro frequently leads evangelical cults alongside President Jair Bolsonaro.

Both are wives of the top favorites for the Presidency of Brazil and have assumed a leading role in the election campaign.

In 2018, when the leader of the Brazilian extreme right was running for the Presidency for the first time, Michelle Bolsonaro remained in a background. His participation at that time was limited to some statements in defense of the rights of the deaf.




Lula da Silva with his wife, Rosangela da Silva, known as “Janja”. Photo: EFE

Considered by those close to her as a discreet and reserved woman, her notoriety increased the same day that Bolsonaro assumed power, on January 1, 2019. That day, Michelle gave a speech in sign language before the president himself, an unprecedented gesture in the recent history of the country.

The presence of the first lady intensified as the legislature progressed and became central in the 2022 campaign.

But its leading role has also become a double edged sword.

Opponents have criticized his poses on social networks with elegant mourning dresses during Queen Elizabeth’s funeral and now they have nicknamed him “Micheque”, recalling a scandal that broke out in 2020 over checks received by the first lady, which were handed over by an adviser to the Bolsonaro family, who was in imprisonment for a corruption case.

A woman “of God”

Defined by the president as a “woman of God” and of the family, Michelle Bolsonaro is used to leading massive acts with evangelicalsone of the president’s main support bases and to whom he has promised “Jesus Christ in Government.”

Michelle Bolsonaro has outlined her image as that of a woman who accompanies her husband.  Photo: AFP


Michelle Bolsonaro has outlined her image as that of a woman who accompanies her husband. Photo: AFP

The 40-year-old first lady, with whom Bolsonaro has a daughter in common, has also focused her efforts on attracting the female vote, one of the battle horses of the far-right leader, who carries a history of sexist and misogynistic statements.

The president’s wife has addressed women both in the electoral propaganda broadcast on television and in the acts, where she came to affirm that the “woman is the helper of the husband”.

The statement generated criticism among feminist groups and was refuted by Janjathe wife of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, favorite to win the elections this Sunday.

“I’m not going to help, I’m not going to be a helper. I’m going to be by your side, by your side, fighting,” Janja stressed, in a veiled response to the first lady.

A relationship born in prison

A sociologist by training and a member of the Workers’ Party (PT) since the 1980s, Janja, 55, began her affair with Lula when the former president was still imprisoned at the Curitiba Federal Police headquarters for a conviction of corruption, later annulled.

The relationship between Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his wife Janja was born when the former president was still in jail.  Photo: EFE


The relationship between Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his wife Janja was born when the former president was still in jail. Photo: EFE

And the first thing Lula did when he left prison, in November 2019, was introduce his girlfriend to the militancy: “I achieved the feat of being a prisoner, having a girlfriend, being in love and having her agree to marry me.”

Both married last May, on the eve of the elections. Since then, Janja has gained more and more space in the former president’s campaign.

The sociologist is one of the most visible faces of Lula’s actionswhere he frequently grabs the microphone and sings the song “Lula lá” before the militants, a classic from 1989 and which he reissued together with artists as a wedding gift for the progressive leader.

On stage, Janja is always keeping an eye on her husband: putting a cap on him when the sun is blazing, offering him water or fixing his shirt lapel while the former president speaks.

Proactive and spontaneous, she is used to participating in the meetings of the leadership of the PT and has assumed the Lula’s articulation with artists and influencersand came to organize mass events such as the one held on Monday in San Pablo.

“I owe the success (of this act) to Janja. She insisted on organizing this and I’m picking up what was planted,” Lula said, minutes before participating in the meeting with singers, actors, intellectuals and digital influencers.

Janja has already announced that if Lula wins the elections, as all the polls predict, he will give a new meaning to the concept of first lady.

“I have a little secret: we are going to try to give a new meaning to that concept of first lady, later we will talk about it,” he told his more than 200,000 followers on Instagram.

Source: EFE

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