Brazil goes to the polls to decide between Jair Bolsonaro and Lula da Silva | World News
Brazilians are voting in a presidential election that leaves an incumbent vowing to defend conservative Christian values against a former president who promises to return the country to a more prosperous past .
The currents flow between President Jair Bolsonaro and former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – both famously divisive political figures.
The vote will determine whether the world’s fourth-largest democracy remains politically far-right or sends a leftist back to the top job.
More than 120 million Brazilians are expected to vote, but because voting is conducted electronically, the final results are usually available within hours of polling stations closing.
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Most opinion polls give da Silva the lead, commonly known as Lula, although political analysts agree the race has become increasingly tight in recent weeks.
For months, it looked like da Silva was headed for an easy win.
But in the first round of elections on October 2, Mr. da Silva finished first among 11 candidates with 48% of the vote, while Mr. Bolsonaro came in second with 43%.
The candidates made several proposals for the future of the country beyond insisting they would continue a major welfare program for the poor.
They turned against each other and launched online smear campaigns – with significantly more attacks coming from Bolsonaro’s camp.
He has claimed without any evidence that Mr da Silva’s return to power will usher in communism, legalization of drugs, abortion and the suppression of churches.
However, Mr. Da Silva supported Bolsonaro’s widely criticized handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and said the president had failed to take care of the most needed members of society.
There are also concerns that Mr Bolsonaro could challenge the election results if he loses – much like former US President Donald Trump.
For months, he claimed that the nation’s electronic voting machines were vulnerable to fraud, although he never presented proof.