BRASÍLIA — Brazilians began voting Sunday in a first-round presidential election pitting incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva against right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, with late polls showing a tight race and a runoff widely expected, BBC News and Reuters reported.
Almost 160 million Brazilians are eligible to cast ballots. If no candidate wins more than 50% of valid votes, the top two advance to a runoff on October 25. BBC Brasil’s poll tracker showed Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro both hovering around the 40% mark, with Lula slightly ahead. Saturday surveys cited by Reuters — including AtlasIntel, Datafolha, Quaest and CNT/MDA — likewise put Lula narrowly ahead in the first round, though several runoff matchups were within the margin of error.
Lula, 80, seeking a fourth nonconsecutive term for the Workers’ Party, has framed the race as a defense of democracy and sovereignty against what he called “foreign and local enemies.” Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, is running for the Liberal Party while his father serves a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup and remains barred from office under house arrest. The younger Bolsonaro has courted evangelicals, agribusiness and the Trump administration, pledging a tough-on-crime agenda and to join a U.S.-led anti-crime alliance if elected.
Crime and security long topped voter concerns, but a late scandal involving jailed banker Daniel Vorcaro pushed corruption to the forefront, with investigations touching both Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign financing and alleged contacts involving Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, an ally of Lula who has denied wrongdoing. Official TSE results begin after polls close at 5 p.m. Brasília time.
Sources: BBC News, Reuters via The Hindu
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