Brazil Elections 2022, second round, LIVE | Lula da Silva and Jair Bolsonaro dispute the Presidency

The president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaroand the former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva they exchanged their last darts at the close of the campaign for the ballot on Sunday. This Saturday the candidates took to the streets of Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo, respectively, the two states with the most electoral weight in the country.

In the survey published by the Institute Datafolha hours before the start of voting, Lula has 52% of the intention to vote against 48% of Bolsonaronarrowing the gap by two points from Thursday’s poll.

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The study was carried out between Friday and Saturday, with a margin of error of 2%, data allows us to predict a heart-stopping finish in the second round.

Lula da Silva waves a Brazilian national flag during a campaign rally in Sao Paulo, on October 29, 2022. (CARL DE SOUZA / AFP).

Jair Bolsonaro waves during a campaign rally in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, on October 29, 2022. (DOUGLAS MAGNO / AFP).

Raised to the cry of “myth!”, Bolsonaro led a motorcycle caravan in Belo Horizontecapital of Minas Gerais, where thousands of supporters came out to meet him dressed in green and yellow.

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I am “confident in victory”, the 67-year-old president told the press after the harsh televised debate he held on Friday with Lula, in which both accused each other of being liars.

The president’s supporters justified their support in fear of Lula’s return to power. “I am not in favor of abortion or gender ideology, which is what the other party wants to impose on our country,” said microentrepreneur Fabrícia Alves, 36.

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In Sao Paulo, Lula dispatched against the president before joining a walk: “Bolsonaro he has no limit to telling lies (…) he does not have the psychic conditions to govern a country the size of Brazil”.

Lula da Silva’s supporters wave flags during a campaign rally on a street in Brasilia, on October 29, 2022. (EVARISTO SA / AFP)

Lula prevailed in the first round with 48% of the votes against 43% for Bolsonarowhich broke the projections that anticipated a comfortable advantage for the former president.

“I came here to fight for democracy and a better country”, said Adriano Araújo, a 39-year-old civil engineer who is a Lula supporter.

In brasiliasupporters of both candidates also circulated through the streets with flags this Saturday.

The First Lady, Michelleparticipated aboard a jeep in a caravan of “Women with Bolsonaro”, which according to an AFP photographer gathered about 100 cars in the central region of the capital.

Lula da Silva and Jair Bolsonaro. (AFP).

crossing of accusations

Bolsonaro seek re-election after four years of a government marked especially by the health and economic crisis that triggered the pandemic with a balance of 688,000 deaths in Brazil, as well as tense relations with institutions and international criticism for its environmental policy.

In the final stretch, he has presented the slow recovery of activity as achievements of his government, mainly the recent decline in inflation and unemployment, which stood at 8.7% in September.

For months Bolsonaro questioned without evidence the electronic voting systemraising fears that he will not accept the results of next Sunday.

On Friday, at the end of the debate, he said, however, that “The one with the most votes wins.” when questioned in a brief interview after the debate on whether he would accept eventual defeat.

“That is democracy”, he added.

A supporter displays a painting depicting Brazil’s president and re-election candidate Jair Bolsonaro during a campaign rally in Sao Goncalo, Rio de Janeiro, on October 18, 2022. (CARL DE SOUZA / AFP)

Abstention

At just 77 years old, Lula aspires to return to power after ruling Latin America’s leading economy between 2003 and 2010.

On Sunday, Some 156 million Brazilians are called to vote in the country’s 26 states and the federal district.

In the first round, around 32 million did not vote (21%). The number quintuples the advantage of six million votes that Lula obtained over Bolsonaro.

In Brazil, voting is compulsory.but the fine for not going to the polls is 3.5 reais (0.50 US cents).

The expectation of a tight result raises fears that the tension and polarization of the country will increase, after a tense campaign full of grievances and misinformation.

After his two terms, Lula was imprisoned in the framework of the anti-corruption mega-cause “Lava Jato”but was politically resurrected after the annulment of his convictions for procedural irregularities.

Now he has the support of artists such as Anitta and Caetano Veloso, Senator Simone Tebet, third in the first round (4%), and figures historically opposed to his Workers’ Party (PT), such as former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso. (PSDB).

Bolsonaro He has the support above all of agribusiness and the majority of evangelicals – a third of the electorate – who praise his ultra-conservative positions.

Several singers of the popular Brazilian sertanejo genre, soccer player Neymar and former US President Donald Trump, with whom they often compare him, also declared in his favor.

Source: Elcomercio