Brazil, deeply divided, will hold a decisive vote in four weeks after incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro had stronger-than-expected effects on Sunday’s presidential vote.
With 99. 8% of voting machines counted, leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won 48. 4% of valid votes, compared to Bolsonaro’s 43. 3%, according to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.
The vote in the current round, which prolongs what has been a tense and violent crusade for four weeks, will take place on October 30.
On Sunday there were long queues at polling stations that closed at 17:00 time (20:00 GMT).
About 156 million other people were eligible to vote.
Da Silva, popularly known as Lula, came out on top on election day, and recent opinion polls gave him a decisive lead and even a first-round victory. Solution to the deep polarization in the fourth largest democracy in the world.
“He obviously performed outperforming, and that’s a big surprise,” Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas, told Al Jazeera. “The polls turned out to be in Brazil. “
Bolsonaro had questioned polls showing him losing to Lula in the first round, saying they had failed to capture the enthusiasm he had noticed on the campaign trail. The 67-year-old former army captain hailed the result as a victory.
“We have overcome the lie today,” he tells reporters, referring to pre-vote polls.
“Now the crusade is ours. . . I am completely sure. We have a lot of positive achievements to show. “
In the races for the lower house, the Senate and the governorship, Brazil’s far right performed strongly.
In the key race for the governorship of Sao Paulo, Brazil’s state and maximum populous commercial capital, Bolsonaro’s former infrastructure minister, Tarcisio de Freitas, reversed the forecast of 42. 6 of the votes against the 35. 5 of Lula’s ally, Fernando Haddad, whom he will face in a second round.
“The far right is Brazil very strong,” said Carlos Melo, a political scientist at Insper Business School in Sao Paulo. “Lula’s victory in the circular moment is now less likely. Bolsonaro will arrive with wonderful strength to be re-elected. “
In Brasilia, Ricardo Almeida, 45, voted dressed in the yellow and green colors of the Brazilian flag. “I voted for [Bolsonaro] because of his Christian faith, his defense of family values and his conservative policies,” he said.
Outside the home of Bolsonaro’s circle of relatives in Rio de Janeiro’s Barra da Tijuca neighborhood, the scene of jubilant celebrations when Bolsonaro was first elected in 2018, the mood was optimistic.
Maria Lourdes de Noronha, 63, said only fraud can save her a Bolsonaro victory, adding that “we will not settle for that” if he loses. “The polls in our country, the media and journalists, are liars, scoundrels,” she said.
Like many of its Latin American neighbors suffering from high inflation and large numbers of people excluded from formal employment, Brazil is leaning to the political left.
Presidents Gustavo Petro of Colombia, Gabriel Boric of Chile and Pedro Castillo of Peru are the region’s leftist leaders who recently took power.
Lula, who will return after leading Brazil from 2003 to 2010, said he ran for president “to get the country back to normal” after 4 years under Bolsonaro.
Addressing a crowd of about 2000 people after the effects were announced, he struck a positive note.
“Throughout this campaign, I think we would win and win,” the 76-year-old said.
“It’s just a pause. Things are going well and we want this country to return to the world stage.
Adorned with Lula stickers, Adriana Schneider voting at a Rio de Janeiro elementary school. The 48-year-old university professor said Bolsonaro’s tenure had been “catastrophic” for investments in culture, arts, science and education.
“We are under barbaric rule,” he said.
Lula moved from poverty to the presidency and is credited with implementing a broad social coverage program during his 2003-2010 term that helped lift tens of millions out of poverty.
But he is also remembered for his administration’s involvement in major corruption scandals involving politicians and executives.
Lula’s convictions for corruption and money laundering landed him in 19 months in prison, meaning he may simply not run in the 2018 presidential race he leads against Bolsonaro according to polls.
The Supreme Court later overturned Lula’s convictions, arguing that the ruling was based on prejudice and collusion with prosecutors.
Voting in São Bernardo do Campo on Sunday, Lula signaled the dramatic setback of his fortunes following a conviction he said was politically motivated.
“This is a vital day for me,” he said. Four years ago, I couldn’t vote because I was the victim of a lie. . . I need to check to help my co-author get back to normal. “
Bolsonaro grew up in a circle of poor relatives before joining the armed forces. He eventually turned to politics after being forced to leave the army for blatantly pushing for higher salaries for soldiers.
During his seven terms as a marginal lawmaker in the cramped space of Brazil’s National Congress, he has expressed nostalgia for the country’s two decades of military dictatorship.
Promising to protect “God, country and family,” the president remains steadfast to his base: evangelical Christians, security advocates and the tough agribusiness sector.
However, the 67-year-old has lost moderate electorate with his handling of the weak economy, his virulent attacks on Congress, the courts and the press, a wave of destruction in the Amazon rainforest and his inability to involve the devastation of COVID-19. 19, which has killed more than 685,000 people in Brazil.