SAO PAULO/SANTA BARBARA D’OESTE, Brazil: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro wrapped up their campaigns on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s first-round presidential election, each expressing confidence of victory despite polls pointing to a likely runoff.
Lula ended his re-election campaign with a march through Sao Paulo that drew large crowds of supporters, while Bolsonaro took part in a motorcycle caravan through Santa Barbara d’Oeste and Americana in Sao Paulo state and later rallied in Rio de Janeiro.
Lula’s camp hailed the event as a record turnout, larger than the closing rally of his 2022 campaign.
Organizers said some 150,000 supporters filled the two-kilometer stretch of Augusta Street between Paulista Avenue and Roosevelt Square, a traditional stage for political demonstrations in Brazil’s largest city.
Speaking from a campaign vehicle, Lula called Sunday’s election a choice between “democracy and barbarism.”
The head of the leftist leader’s Workers’ Party, Edinho Silva, said the turnout reflected growing momentum for Lula.
“Unlike other Latin American countries, where we saw a right-wing wave at the end, here in Brazil we’re seeing a wave in our favor,” Silva said.
Right-wing Senator Bolsonaro urged supporters to turn out to vote and predicted a first-round win.
“I am convinced that everything is in place for us to win this election in the first round,” the lawmaker said.
Flavio was photographed holding a placard bearing the image of his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest after being convicted of attempting to overturn the 2022 election result, which he lost to Lula.
If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of valid votes — which exclude blank and null ballots — in Sunday’s first-round vote, the two frontrunners advance to a second-round runoff on October 25.
