‘Watershed moment’ as Brazil votes in down-to-wire Bolsonaro-Lula showdown
- A final poll before voting day from the Datafolha institute showed leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva with 52 per cent of voter support, slightly above 48 per cent for Bolsonaro
- Brazil’s 156 million voters will cast their ballots until 5pm (20:00 GMT) with the result of the electronic vote expected in a matter of hours.
Brazilians began voting on Sunday in a white-knuckle presidential run-off election, choosing between wildly different visions of their future offered by far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and his leftist arch-rival, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Lula, a charismatic former president tainted by corruption charges, narrowly won a first-round election and enters the finale the slight favourite with 52 per cent of voter support, according to a final poll from the Datafolha institute on Saturday.
However, Bolsonaro, who scored 48 per cent in the poll, performed better than expected last time around, and many pundits see the election as too close to call.
Waiting in line to vote in Brasilia, Nadia Faraj said she had been up since 4.30am worrying about the nation’s future.
“It’s a watershed moment for the country,” the 61-year-old Bolsonaro supporter told AFP.
“Brazil is teetering on the brink. We’ve spent years trying to rebuild the country,” she added, referring to a corruption scandal and economic crisis at the end of 13 years of rule by Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT) in 2016.