Luis Inacio Lula da Silva has won the first round of Brazil’s presidential election and will face incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro in a run-off.
The electoral office announced on Sunday evening that the former leftist president, Lula, received 47.97 percent of the vote, while the right-wing Bolsonaro received 43.60.
With no candidate winning more than 50 percent of the vote, Lula and Bolsonaro, as the two strongest candidates, will contest a run-off in October.
The result was much closer than expected, with opinion polls before the election putting Lula well ahead. Experts believe that many of those polled did not reveal their preferred candidate or make up their minds on election day.
If Lula wins in the second round, he will be the first democratic president of Brazil to win a third term. Previously, he was president from 2003 to 2010. Many supporters of Lula, 76, associate the 76-year-old with Brazil’s golden age, when the country’s economy boomed due to soaring prices for basic goods and the government used social programs to lift millions out of extreme poverty.
Meanwhile, Bolsonaro’s supporters see the current president as a defender of traditional family values and economic freedom.
Brazil’s elections are of great importance to the rest of the world, as the winner will shape the country’s environmental policies. The Amazon rainforest, as a great carbon dioxide cleaner, plays an important role in combating global climate change.
It is noteworthy that more than 156 million people had the right to vote in the presidential elections that took place on Sunday, in which voting was mandatory. Legislators, senators, and governors were also elected on the same day.
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