Reuters
source: Reuters
Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro will face President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the runoff of a presidential election, after the challenger took some 47% of valid votes in the first round on Sunday, beating the forecasts in most private surveys.
The two leading candidates will advance to the second round of voting on October 25, after topping a field of 12 candidates in a campaign focused on concerns about the growing cost of living, corruption and insecurity in Brazilians’ daily lives.
Bolsonaro, the son of right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 election, now heads to a showdown with the leftist Lula, who picked up 44.9% of votes, with nearly 99% of votes reported.
Private surveys in the run-up to the election had forecast Lula leading the first-round vote by around three percentage points. Bolsonaro’s stronger-than-expected performance will buoy his campaign and may bolster Brazil’s currency and stock market, which have risen on the prospects of the business-friendly challenger.
“The pollsters missed badly,” said Robert Muggah, cofounder of think tank Igarape Institute. “Expect the runoff polls, which show a dead heat, to understate Bolsonaro as well.”
