The country is divided between the continuity of the far-right and the return of the left-wing candidate, in particularly fierce elections
Some 156.4 million Brazilians are called to the polls this Sunday to choose between the continuity of far-right president Jair Bolsonaro and the return to power of former progressive president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Bolsonaro and Lula will be measured in a second round of elections for which the leader of the Workers’ Party (PT) is the favorite, with an advantage of between four and seven percentage points, according to the latest polls.
Voting will take place at 5,570 cities in the country and in 181 locations abroad.
Both candidates, who have divided the electorate as had not been seen in the recent history of Brazil, rushed until the last moment on Saturday to close a fierce campaign which has lasted for two and a half months.
Lula, who governed the country between 2003 and 2010, put an end to his campaign in Sao Paulo in the company of former Uruguayan President José Mujica, while Bolsonaro took a motorcycle ride through Belo Horizonte and, at night, he released a list with 22 “commitments”, in an attempt to reduce the distance with his adversary.
In the first round, Lulachampion of a broad progressive front to which center and center-right forces have joined, was the most voted candidate with 48.4% of the votescompared to 43.2% obtained by the retired Army captain, who aspires to a new four-year term.
Lula’s favoritism, which he regained his political rights last year After spending 580 days in prison for corruption processes that were later annulled, he has remained constant throughout the campaign.
In search of the undecided
In recent weeks, Lula and Bolsonaro have focused on convincing the undecided and absentees, who in the first round they reached 20%despite the fact that in Brazil voting is compulsory.
However, the positions of one and the other are practically fixed. ANDhe margin to gain new support is minimal and, in fact, there have been no big swings in voting intentions in the most recent polls.
Lula continues with a wide advantage in the northeast regionhistorical granary of votes of the PT, and among the poorest population, which represents practically half of the electorate.
Bolsonaro, for his part, stands out among the richest and the influential evangelical electorate, whom Lula has tried to seduce with the disclosure of a letter in which he declared himself against abortion and affirmed that the family is “a sacred thing.”
In addition to president and vice president, Brazilians from 12 states will have to elect their governor in the second roundincluding Sao Paulo, the most populous region and engine of the country’s economy.