Campaigning in Brazil’s elections enters last day
>> BRASILIA: Candidates began their last day of campaigning yesterday for Brazil’s most polarised presidential race in decades that could elect a far-right former army captain who promises to crack down on corruption, ease gun laws and defend Christian family values.
Front-runner Jair Bolsonaro, 55, has surged on widespread anger over rising crime, a drifting economy and the prospect of the leftist Workers Party returning to power.
His closest rival is Fernando Haddad of the Workers Party, whose leader is in jail for receiving bribes.
Final opinion polls yesterday showed Mr Bolsonaro has enough support to win the election outright today. However, if no candidate gets a majority, the race will go to a second-round run-off between the two top vote-getters on Oct 28.
Mr Bolsonaro, who is recovering from a near-fatal stabbing at a rally one month ago, appealed to Brazilians to vote for him in a live Facebook feed for his home on Friday night.
He asked them to give him a majority to avoid a second vote, which some polls have shown his leftist challenger winning.
Mr Haddad’s support relies on the popularity of his mentor, former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was barred from running due to a corruption conviction. Mr Haddad was to campaign yesterday in Bahia state in the northeast of Brazil where Lula is still a hero because his government did much to relieve poverty.
About 26% of voters said they had not yet decided on who to vote for, according a Datafolha poll released on Thursday. It showed outright victory by Mr Bolsonaro was still possible but not likely.
“We will accept the result whatever it is, there should be no doubt of that,” Mr Bolsonaro said.
The assurance was made to ease fears of military coup in case he lost.