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SAO PAULO: Brazil’s presidential election will be settled in a second-round runoff vote on Oct. 30 between right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro and leftist challenger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the national electoral authority said on Sunday.
With 97.3% of voting machines counted, Lula had 47.9% of valid votes, compared to 43.7% for Bolsonaro, the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) reported on its website, putting a first-round victory out of reach.
Sunday’s voting was largely peaceful after a contentious, sometimes violent campaign in which Brazil’s democracy seemed to hang in the balance. Bolsonaro, who has praised the past military dictatorship in Brazil, repeatedly challenged the legitimacy of the election as it approached, and his opinion poll numbers flagged.
“Lula represents democracy,” said Julia Sottili, a museum worker who voted for da Silva because of what she described as Bolsonaro’s authoritarian tendencies. “Lula wants to improve people’s lives and end hunger. He is really concerned about human rights.”
Preelection polls put da Silva within striking distance of winning the presidency in the first round by securing more than half of the votes. But he came short, with Brazil now facing four more weeks of intense campaigning.
Still, the result was a kind of vindication for da Silva, who became a hero to many Brazilians during his two terms as president between 2003 and 2010 when a commodities-fueled economic boom helped lift millions out of poverty.
By contrast, Bolsonaro’s second-place finish on Sunday was a sobering result for the president whose erratic behavior and policy decisions cost him support.
President of Brazil and presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro greets supporters during a rally at Praca do Santuario on Sept. 23 in Divinopolis, Brazil.
Bolsonaro was swept to power four years ago by a coalition that included evangelical Christians, gunowners and other conservatives who were drawn to his pledge to uphold traditional family values and who were disgusted by the corruption scandals swirling around da Silva and his left-wing Workers Party.
