Brazil: Lula and Bolsonaro’s last day of campaign arms control

The two favorites for Brazil’s presidential election, Lula and Jair Bolsonaro, shot their last cards in the campaign ahead of ballots under tension in the country’s largest city, Sao Paulo, on Saturday.

Former leftist leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2010), leading in the polls, met his supporters in the morning for a “march” on Ballista Avenue, where the main events are located in this megalopolis.

About 5 km away, almost at the same time, Mr. Bolsonaro will lead a motorcade that will take him to São Paulo’s green lung, Ibirapuera Park.

The far-right president toured many of the country’s cities on two wheels – often without a helmet – with his supporters, including Guaranhas in Pernambuco (northeast), where Lula grew up before moving to São Paulo. His family escapes from hunger.

But his campaign is promising a backlash to give the former paratrooper a final boost on Saturday.

The campaign was staged under very special conditions for security reasons: candidates wore bulletproof vests and security barriers were placed during rallies to prevent crowds from getting too close to the stage.

– Exciting conclusion – Campaign

Saturday also marks the release of the latest survey by the Datafolha Reference Institute.

As of Thursday evening, the institution is still leading in its intention to vote for Lula, now 14 points ahead of Bolsonaro (34% vs. 48%).

A former president must receive at least 50% of the vote (with zero or no whites) to be sworn in for a third term on Sunday.

In Thursday’s poll, he was accurately credited with 50% of the “valid” votes cast, with the poll’s margin of error (+ or – 2 percentage points) adding uncertainty to the runoff. October 30.

These last hours of the campaign will be “very tense, everyone will be paying attention to small details one way or another,” said Jairo Nicolaou, a political scientist at the Getlio Vargas Foundation.

The tension was palpable on Thursday evening, during the last televised debate on the country’s most-watched TV Globo channel.

Lula and Bolsonaro called each other “liars” and “corrupt” and capitulated.

The outgoing president also called former Turner-Miller a “traitor to the fatherland” and Lula responded by saying he was “going to send him home” after winning Sunday’s first round.

But the transfer of power will prove “very difficult” if the leftist candidate wins, with long weeks until the January 1 investiture.

Lula admitted at a press conference on Friday that he feared “trouble” during the transition.

Jair Bolsonaro has given several indications that he will not recognize the results in the event of a defeat, specifically citing the risk of “fraud” without providing evidence.

Last week, the head of state said it would be “abnormal” if he did not get at least 60% of the vote in the first round.

Nicknamed “Mito” (myth) by his supporters, he doesn’t believe in Datafolha’s “false” polls, but rather in demonstrations in his favor on the streets of Brazilian cities, such as Saturday’s planned car rally in São Paulo. Paulo.