SAO PAULO — Final arguments to voters in Brazil’s presidential election were made Saturday, the eve of the runoff between incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro. Tens of thousands of supporters took to the streets hoping to lure the few undecided voters left.
Polls published on Saturday suggest it will be a nail-biting election that could be decided on details.
A victory for Bolsonaro would add Brazil to a list of Latin American countries — including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Peru — that have elected allies of U.S. President Donald Trump in recent years. A win for Lula secures some distance between the region’s economic powerhouse and Washington.
The 80-year-old Lula, who lost the first round to the 45-year-old Bolsonaro by more than 2.2 million votes, possibly had the biggest rally of his career on Sao Paulo’s key artery, Paulista Avenue.
Bolsonaro brought supporters out in his native Rio de Janeiro and in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, the state which for decades has correctly pointed to the winner of the country’s election.
Saturday’s demonstrations marked the culmination of a push that intensified earlier this month.
Lula, who had a rally in Rio’s Copacabana beach in the morning, told supporters “the people have taken it upon themselves to lead the campaign.”
Since the Oct. 4 vote, massive leftist demonstrations have taken place in Brazil, a territory that supporters of the president had lost in recent years to voters of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Almost 160 million Brazilians are eligible to vote. More than 33 million, or 21% of the electorate, did not vote earlier this month, and could face a small fine for failing to cast a ballot without justification. People who missed the first round can vote in the second.
Brazilians cast ballots using electronic voting machines, punching in digits that correspond to their candidates. Results are reported within hours after polls close.
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