Brazil Votes as Lula Faces the Son of His Jailed Rival
About 160 million Brazilians were eligible to vote on Sunday in a presidential first round pitting Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 80 and seeking a fourth term, against Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, son of the jailed former president. “What is at stake is the future of Brazil,” Lula said after voting in São Bernardo do Campo. A candidate needs more than half the valid votes to avoid a run-off on 25 October.
Polls before the vote gave Lula a marginal lead that tightens in a second round. Flávio, who has been hosted at the White House by Donald Trump, said he was counting on “a protest vote from people who would otherwise vote for another candidate but are opposed to Lula”; Lula’s allies fear Washington might refuse to recognise a Lula victory. Jair Bolsonaro is serving 27 years over a coup plot after his 2022 defeat. Public debt above 82% of GDP and the Banco Master fraud scandal, in which Flávio is under investigation for money laundering — which he denies — have shadowed the campaign.