Brazil votes in polarising presidential runoff between Lula and Bolsonaro’s son

Brazilians began voting in Sunday’s polarizing presidential runoff between incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro, a contest that will determine whether the U.S. will significantly expand its growing influence in Latin America.Lula, Bolsonaro’s son face off as Brazil votes in tight presidential race (AP)Polls ahead of the vote showed the two candidates, who need more than 50% of the vote to become Brazil’s next leader in January, in a neck-and-neck race. The election pits the left-of-center veteran politician Lula against Bolsonaro, an ally of US President Donald Trump and the son of imprisoned former President Jair Bolsonaro.Flávio Bolsonaro bested Lula by more than 2.2 million votes in the first round of the election earlier this month. However, more than 33 million voters out of nearly 160 million did not turn out even though voting is compulsory.Bolsonaro and Lula have opposing ideological views on issues ranging from US-Brazil relations and climate change to social welfare.A win for Bolsonaro would signify a pivot to the right by Latin America's most populous country and its largest economy, in a year when Trump allies have notched up victories in Chile, Peru and Colombia. A victory for Lula would leave Brazil and Mexico with left-of-center leaders.In many ways, Brazil’s runoff vote is another tight rematch between the country’s two polarized political forces that trigger passion as much as loathing. Four years ago, Lula beat Bolsonaro’s father by the narrowest margin since the country’s return to democracy in 1985.Security and cost-of-living concernsLula, who first governed Brazil between 2003 and 2010, has faced a tough reelection battle because of concerns about the cost of living and security. Bolsonaro made a tough-on-crime approach the cornerstone of his campaign and pledged to bring down food costs.Both have been hit by corruption suspicions involving family members and allies, with Bolsonaro implicated in a sprawling scandal rocking Brazil. Lula previously spent more than a year in prison on corruption convictions that were eventually annulled.Bolsonaro’s admission that he accepted about $12 million from disgraced former banker Daniel Vorcaro to produce a film on his father’s life has cast a shadow over his campaign. He is under investigation for corruption, money laundering and tax evasion in connection with the case.As Bolsonaro voted at a school in Rio de Janeiro around 8 a.m., his supporters shouted “Lula, thief, your place is in prison” while Lula’s supporters chanted in his support.“The time of real change has arrived,” Bolsonaro told journalists. “Brazil can’t go on another four years on its current trajectory.”In the lead-up to the vote, Lula frequently portrayed Bolsonaro, whose father is under house arrest for attempting a coup, as a threat to democracy. Bolsonaro has promised to seek an amnesty for his father if elected.The next president will name at least three Supreme Court justices out of 11 due to upcoming retirements. Bolsonaro has long taken aim at the country's top court — which has been rocked by a corruption scandal of its own — and promised to push for judiciary reform.Lula, trying to lure undecided voters, has invested in costly incentives since he lost the first round of voting. His government’s most recent moves have been endorsing a debt relief program for small businesses and promising free public transportation on weekends. A win for the incumbent came with the Senate's approval of the end of the six-day working week — a popular proposal backed by the government.Lula thanked his voters for an outpouring of support in recent days as he voted in the city of Sao Bernardo do Campo, where he kicked off his political career as a union leader in the 1960s.“It is a lot of generosity, a lot of care, a lot of love. I will be forever grateful,” Lula said.Lula voters driven by his long political trajectoryLula voters turned out to the polls Sunday driven by his history of supporting marginalized people and working to lift Brazilians out of poverty.Luzia da Souza, who runs a bar in a middle-class neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, is a long-time Lula supporter.“Lula is a man of the people and he knows what it’s like to be poor,” she said. "I find it impossible not to vote for him.”Anderson Falcão, a 43-year-old journalist in Brasilia who sported a red shirt in support of Lula, said he worried about Bolsonaro’s long-term political vision, which he called “exclusionary.”“It’s a project that harms the less fortunate, harms the worker, women, the forest, the Amazon,” he said.“It’s a project of destruction of what we understood Brazil could one day be and what we, with great difficulty, brick by brick, tried to build. … That’s why I’m voting for Lula, and for me, this vote has a lot of meaning.”Bolsonaro voters want changeBolsonaro voters, many who wore yellow and green Brazil jerseys in support of the senator, said they cast their ballots for change.Fabianne Borges Santoro, a 45-year-old physiotherapist who lives in the neighborhood where Bolsonaro voted, once voted for Lula’s party but now associates it with corruption.“The Workers’ Party has been in power for a long time and the voice of the people is saying that we need change to see improvements in security and the cost of living,” she said. “Things are really expensive and taxes are too high.”Davi Vidal de Negreiros Nobrega Leite Andrade, a 20-year-old computer science student in Brasilia, said he prefers Bolsonaro’s economic plans over what Lula has done. “I just don’t think Brazil deserves the presidency that it has,” he said.Third-party voters and abstentions from first round could decide voteKelvin Gomes Pimental, a 28-year-old data analyst in Brasilia, voted for a third-party candidate in the first round, making his vote a decisive one in this election. He ultimately decided to vote for Lula.Although he said Lula was not a perfect candidate, he ultimately disagreed more with Bolsonaro’s approach.“It’s not even about Flávio himself. It’s also very much about the management of the other Bolsonaro government. He wanted to stage a coup,” he said. “These issues scare me a little.”Alisson Freitas, 67, who works at a bakery in São Paulo, said he didn’t vote in the first round because he was working that day too far from his polling station. But he requested the early shift this time to support Lula.“I don’t think his government did well this time, things are expensive, but under Jair Bolsonaro it was much worse,” Freitas said. “The Trump administration has loomed largeLula criticized the U.S. president before Brazil's election, speaking about the risks of U.S. intervention in Brazilian elections after the Trump administration imposed high tariffs against Brazilian exports and classified drug-trafficking groups as foreign terrorist organizations. Experts say the moves may have been intended to make Lula look soft on crime.Flávio Bolsonaro has touted his proximity to the White House and insisted that Brazil needs to strike better deals with the Trump administration, including in the rare minerals economy. Brazil estimates that its deposits hold up to 21 million tons, second only to China. He denies he's being helped by the U.S. government.Voting in Brazil is conducted electronically and the result is usually available within hours after polling stations close at 5 p.m. (2000 GMT) in Brasilia.