No clear winner so far in Brazil's Sunday runoff elections

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
29 Oct 2022 10:36
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Brazilian presidential candidates Lula da Silva and his opponent President Jair Bolsonaro trade insults in the final televised debate ahead of Sunday's polarized runoff presidential elections.

Brazil runoff elections on Sunday as both candidates tightly compete on polls.

As Brazil experiences its most polarized election campaign in decades, the leftist presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his opponent far-right President, Jair Bolsonaro, traded jabs during their final televised stand-off on Friday that comes only two days before Sunday's runoff.

According to recent polls, the leader of the worker's party, Lula da Silva, is slightly more favorable to claim Presidency for a third term, however, according to analysts, the election campaign is very tense and both candidates have nearly equal chances of winning.

Watch now: The first direct debate between Brazil's two presidential candidates

Poll results released by Atlas Intel last Sunday show that da Silva's poll numbers slightly increased against his far-right opponent Jair Bolsonaro, where the numbers showed that Lula leads on public support with 52%, up from 51.1%, while Bolsonaro's numbers dropped from a previous 46.5% to a 46.2% a few days before Sunday's runoff.

In his opening speech, Bolsonaro stated that if he is reelected, he would raise the minimum wage to 1,400 reais ($260) a month, denying reports that he might possibly unpeg the minimum from inflation. This announcement came despite having no allocation of funds for this plan in his government's 2023 budget plan.

The heated debate between the two candidates was deeply tense as both exchanged personal insults and on several occasions ignored each other's questions.

Lula maintained the lead on the election polls since the first round of voting at the beginning of October, and according to analysts, this comes as Bolsonaro was unable to close the nearly 5% gap.

President Bolsonaro's numbers have taken several hits recently, the last of which after a Former Brazilian congressman with ties to the Brazilian President fired grenades at police officers, injuring two, in an attempt to prevent his arrest.

The bitterly contested presidential election in Brazil will go to a runoff on Sunday, October 30, with incumbent Jair Bolsonaro finishing a close second to front-runner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva during the first election rally on October 2. It was an unexpectedly strong result for Bolsonaro – and for Brazil's far-right. Lula, Brazil's ex-president, who led the country from 2003 to 2010, was considered the favorite to win the race in a single round.