Lula and Bolsonaro Rally Final-Day Crowds Before Brazilian Runoff

Brazil's presidential contest moved into its final weekend with rival campaigns drawing large crowds to the streets, one day before voters decide whether Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will return to office or Flávio Bolsonaro will succeed his father in the presidency.

Close to 159 million Brazilians were eligible to cast ballots on Sunday. Polling had the two candidates level after Bolsonaro took 47% in the first round on 4 October against Lula's 45%. Since Brazil restored democratic rule in the 1980s, no candidate who trailed after the opening round has come back to win the runoff.

On Saturday, tens of thousands of Lula backers filled the 2.5-mile stretch of Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro under strong sun, dressed in red and moving in a procession that activists opened with a yellow and green banner reading "WE ARE GOING TO TURN THIS AROUND!" Truck driver Josias Silva, 61, carried a homemade placard reading "Lula re-elected. Tomorrow will be a new day." He said large street protests, many organized by students, show that "the people have woken up," and forecast that Lula would take more than 60% of the vote. Polling pointed to a tighter race.

Bolsonaro has held a narrow edge in most analyst assessments. His father, Jair Bolsonaro, served as president from 2019 to 2022, and the son has campaigned on a promise to confront violent crime with force. Lula has closed part of that gap in recent days as scandals involving his opponent surfaced. The magazine Piauí reported last week that Flávio Bolsonaro attended a 2020 boat party with sex workers and vaccine lobbyists seeking terms with his father's government during the height of the coronavirus outbreak.

For many demonstrators, the vote carried consequences beyond policy. Jair Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 election to Lula, and some supporters of democratic rule have raised concerns that he could be freed or returned to government if his son prevails. Brazilian press reports indicate several of his co-conspirators, now imprisoned or abroad, could receive senior military and police positions. Restaurateur Marta Moraes, 59, said her objection was to "Bolsonarismo" rather than the right in general, and said she lost four relatives during the Covid pandemic under Jair Bolsonaro's watch.

Many in the Rio crowd belonged to "Lula's Army," a WhatsApp group formed after the first round that has grown to 10 million members. Retired teacher Isabella Gaze, 64, said: "This isn't a normal election." DJ and activist Cammy Marinho, 49, said she spent two weeks courting Bolsonaro voters and first-round abstainers. Fourteen-year-old Heitor Lopes da Silva came from Duque de Caxias in a wheelchair carrying a placard supporting the president.

Bolsonaro's supporters also demonstrated. In Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais, thousands assembled at the Praça da Liberdade in Brazil's yellow football jersey and waving Brazilian flags, many beside US flags. Minas Gerais holds the country's second-largest electorate and no candidate has won the presidency without carrying the state. Bolsonaro led there by just under 5% in the first round.

Backers of the Bolsonaro campaign pointed to his position on guns. Shooting club owner Antonio Carlos Costa Jr, 59, said Jair Bolsonaro gave citizens the right to defend themselves and his son would do the same. Security specialists have found that Jair Bolsonaro's loosening of gun laws diverted many firearms to criminal gangs, while Lula has tightened the rules again. Lula's supporters question whether Bolsonaro, who has well-documented ties to members of Rio's paramilitary militias, could curb crime. Architect Erika Cavalcante, 43, carried a sign reading "Don't let the mobsters win."

Lula was in the first round with 45% of the vote, and Bolsonaro with 47%.