TEHRAN, October 28 - Millions of people in Brazil are set to cast their ballots in a presidential runoff on Sunday, amid one of the most polarizing campaigns in the country’s history.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Polls will open at 8 a.m. local time (1100 GMT) and close at 5 p.m. (2000 GMT) for a vote to decide who would lead Latin America’s biggest country for the next four years.
Some 147 million voters will choose between Jair Bolsonaro, a controversial far-right candidate, and Fernando Haddad, a former education minister.
In the first round of the presidential election, on October 7, Bolsonaro secured 46 percent of valid votes and Haddad garnered 29 percent. Neither collected the 50 percent plus one votes needed to avoid a runoff.
Bolsonaro, a 63-year-old former army captain, is viewed as an outspoken supporter of Brazil’s 1964-1985 military dictatorship, which executed hundreds of political opponents and tortured thousands more.
Nicknamed the “Trump of the tropics” by the international media, Bolsonaro is also known for his disparaging remarks about women and minorities as well as statements in favor of extrajudicial killings by police.
The far-right congressman was stabbed in the stomach last month during a rally in the city of Juiz de Fora, in the southern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.
Haddad, of the leftist Workers’ Party, or the PT, has campaigned on a promise to put social and economic inclusion at the heart of his agenda, further overhaul the education system, and reverse some recent austerity measures to create jobs.
The 55-year-old, a stand-in for jailed ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva — who led Brazil through the boom years of 2003 to 2010 — has said he will improve gun control if he comes to power.
Final election results are expected to be released late on Monday.
Far-right presidential candidate’s lead slips
According to two major Brazilian opinion polls on Saturday night, Bolsonaro has seen his commanding lead over Haddad fall over the last days.
An Ibope poll published by the Globo TV network showed Bolsonaro had 54 percent of voter support in comparison with Haddad’s 46 percent — a fall of three percentage points for Bolsonaro compared to the same poll on Tuesday.
A second poll, by the Datfolha group, showed Bolsonaro with 55 percent and Haddad with 45 percent — a fall of 1 percentage point for Bolsonaro compared with the same poll on Thursday.
Haddad’s key endorsements
In a related development on Saturday, Haddad won a key last-minute endorsement from former Supreme Court judge Joaquim Barbosa, the first Brazilian black chief justice and a widely-respected figure.
“For the first time in 32 years of exercising my right to vote, a candidate scares me.
That’s why I will vote for Fernando Haddad,” the popular anti-corruption judge tweeted.
Haddad has also won the backing of Felipe Neto, Brazil’s most popular YouTube host, who enjoys 27.7 million followers on his channel.
The leftist lawyer and academic has, however, failed to get the endorsement of center-leftist Ciro Gomes, who came third with 12 percent of the votes in the first round on October 7. Gomes announced in a video on social media that he would not take sides in the election campaign, withholding support for Haddad.
Source: Presstv
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