Brazil votes today in a tight runoff between Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro
Brasília — Brazil votes this Sunday in the presidential runoff between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, a race that final polls describe as a statistical tie, within the margin of error. Polls open at 8:00 a.m. and close at 5:00 p.m. Brasília time, and the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) will begin publishing the count as totals arrive from the electronic voting machines.
Neither candidate won in the first round on October 4: Bolsonaro finished first with 47.03% of valid votes (56.1 million), against 45.16% for Lula (53.9 million), short of the majority required. According to Reuters, Lula narrowed the gap in the final days of the campaign, and the result will depend largely on turnout: nearly 159 million Brazilians are eligible to vote, voting is mandatory, and more than 33 million did not vote in the first round — 21.08% of the electorate.
Both closed their campaigns on Saturday in the streets: Lula led a massive rally on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro and then a march on Paulista Avenue in São Paulo; Bolsonaro joined a motorcycle caravan in Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais, a state considered decisive because no candidate has won the presidency without winning it since Brazil's return to democracy in the 1980s.
Lula, 80, is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term, promising to protect purchasing power and social policies. Bolsonaro, 45, a senator and son of former president Jair Bolsonaro — sentenced to 27 years in prison and under house arrest over the coup plot that followed the 2022 election — promises a heavy-handed approach to crime and has said he would free his father if he wins. The campaign was dominated by the cost of living, household debt, gang violence and Lula's accusations that Washington is trying to influence the election, something the U.S. government denies.
Historical precedent favors Bolsonaro: according to reports, no candidate who finished second in the first round has ever gone on to win a Brazilian presidential runoff. The electronic voting system usually produces a result within hours of the polls closing, although the TSE has not set a guaranteed time to declare the winner.
Photo: Evaristo Sa / AFP
Source: Reuters