Brazilians on tenterhooks ahead of polarizing poll

BBC-Brazilians are heading to the polls on Sunday in an election which could see one of the world’s most populous democracies switch from a far-right to a left-wing leader.

Voting is compulsory for the more than 156 million Brazilians eligible.

Incumbent Jair Bolsonaro is seeking a second term after four years in power but is being challenged by ex-President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

A result is expected within hours after polls close at 17:00 (20:00 GMT).

The campaign has been acrimonious and polarising with the two main candidates trading insults.

During a televised debate on Thursday, President Bolsonaro called Lula, who served time in prison after being convicted on corruption charges, an “ex-inmate” and a “traitor”, while Lula labelled the president “a liar”.

Lula was not able to run in the last election in 2018 because he was in jail and barred from standing for office.

His Workers’ Party colleague, Fernando Haddad, did not have the same name recognition and failed to inspire left-wing voters in the way Lula does.

Amid widespread discontent with mainstream politics and anger at corruption scandals which had tainted the Workers’ Party, far-right lawmaker and former army captain Jair Bolsonaro was swept into office.

But with Lula’s conviction annulled by the Supreme Court, the former president is very much back on the scene and opinion polls give him a double-digit lead over Mr Bolsonaro.

There are nine other candidates in the running, but polls suggest their support does not amount to more than 10%, leaving Lula and Mr Bolsonaro to battle it out.

Brazil’s electoral system requires that a candidate win more than 50% of the valid votes cast in order to be declared president outright.

If none of the candidates gets the necessary votes in the first round on 2 October, a run-off will be held between the top two on 30 October.

Opinion polls have consistently shown Lula in the lead and there is a small chance he could win the presidency in the first round, something which has not happened since centre-right President Fernando Henrique Cardoso was re-elected in 1998.

However, many Bolsonaro supporters remain confident of victory and the president himself believes he can win outright in the first round.

He has also cast doubts on Brazil’s electronic voting system, arguing – without providing evidence – that it is open to fraud.

He is adamant that in case of losing, it will be because the voting was rigged.

READ:Is Brazil’s voting system open to fraud?

Brazil’s electoral authority has dismissed these allegations as “false and dishonest”, but the attacks have raised concerns that Mr Bolsonaro may not accept an outcome unfavourable to him.

Statements made by the president in the lead-up to the election, such as that only God could remove him from office, have created a tense atmosphere, with some voters wary of speaking out in public.

This was certainly the case with the two sisters I met on a street corner in Rio waving Lula flags, who asked me not to take their photo or give their names.

The younger one said she wanted Lula to win, because she liked how he had opened up Brazil’s education system to the poor and people of colour, like her.