Brazilians flock to polls for heated presidential runoff
Brazilian voters flocked to the voting booths on Sunday to choose between incumbent far-right President Jair Bolsonaro and leftist former president Luiz Lula da Silva.
The tight race offers a second chance for both.
Bolsonaro has vowed to consolidate a sharp conservative turn in Brazilian politics after a presidency marred by the pandemic.
Lula promises more social and environmental responsibility, recalling the rising prosperity of his 2003-2010 presidency, before graft scandals tarred his Workers Party.
Some 120 million voters are expected to punch their choices into electronic voting machines that Bolsonaro has criticised without proof as fraudprone, raising concern he may not concede defeat, following the example of ally, former US president Donald Trump.
That has added to tensions in the Brazil’s most polarizing election since its return to democracy in 1985 after a military dictatorship that Lula, a former union leader, rallied against and Bolsonaro, a former army captain, invokes with nostalgia.
Polls showed the race between them tightening in the final week, with Bolsonaro eroding a slight lead for Lula. Others show a small but steady advantage for Lula.
Bolsonaro outperformed opinion polls in the first round of voting on October 2 in a field of 11 candidates. Pollsters recalibrated their methods based on that result, but most still say Sunday’s runoff could go either way.
A victory for Lula would mark a stunning comeback for the leftist leader, who was jailed in 2018 for 19 months on bribery convictions that the Supreme Court overturned last year, clearing the way for him to seek a third presidential term.
Lula has vowed a return to state-driven economic growth and social policies that helped lift millions out of poverty during a commodity boom when he first governed Brazil.
He also vows to combat destruction of the Amazon rainforest, now at a 15-year high, and make Brazil a leader in global climate talks.
A second term for Bolsonaro would keep Brazil on a path of free-market reforms and looser environmental protections, while cementing a coalition of right-wing parties and powerful farm interests, which bankrolled his campaign.
Brazil’s electoral authorities are preparing for a narrow result.
A tide of political violence this year, punctuated in recent weeks by armed confrontations involving high-profile Bolsonaro allies, has added to fears that contested election result could trigger unrest.
Lula, born into poverty, led strikes against Brazil’s military government before founding the Workers Party in the 1980s, called on voters to defend Brazil from Bolsonaro’s “neofascism.”