Brazil elections: Bolsonaro and Lula compete for the top position

• President Jair Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party was defeated by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the first round.
• The run-off may be a close race, with polls suggesting a close contest.
• The run-off may be a close race.

Brazil is on edge as voters will soon decide whether to reinstate a left-wing former president or elect the far-right incumbent to lead the fourth-largest democracy in the world.

President Jair Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party was defeated by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party by a margin of five percentage points in the first round, which took place four weeks ago.

However, the run-off may be a close race.

In January, the victor will be sworn in.

Since the first round of voting, voters on both sides of the political spectrum have experienced a stressful four weeks.

Compared to what surveys had indicated, Jair Bolsonaro received more votes, but his primary challenger Lula did not receive the required 50% of valid votes to win the election outright.

Although surveys indicate that Lula would win by a slim margin, many voters claim that they do not trust polls because they overestimated the level of support for President Bolsonaro.

The president and his opponent have been courting Brazilians who cast their first-round votes for one of the eight other candidates who did not advance to the run-off because the final outcome is still in doubt.

A 23-year-old student and climate activist from the Lula stronghold of Natal in northeastern Brazil, Ellen Monielle is a student.

She backed Leonardo Péricles four weeks ago despite being pushed by several of her peers to support Lula.

I saw myself represented by them, says Ms. Monielle, whose father is black and whose mother is indigenous. She was happy to see a black guy from Natal running for president and delighted that he chose a black woman as his running mate.

But when Mr. Péricles received less than 0.1% of the vote, she made the decision to support Lula instead.

Her vote goes against President Bolsonaro rather than supporting the 77-year-old worker’s party candidate.

Bolsonaro, she claims, “represents everything that I’m not and that I don’t believe in,” pointing out that more Brazilians are going hungry now than ever before.

Out of a population of around 217 million, a recent survey estimated it to be more than 33 million.

Gustavo Ramp is as dedicated, but unlike Ms. Monielle, he wants to stop ex-President Lula from taking office again. Lula presided over Brazil from January 2003 to December 2010.

The firm administrator, who is 31 years old, comes from Curitiba, a southern city that massively supported President Bolsonaro.

According to Mr. Ramp, “under Bolsonaro, the murder rate decreased, state firms that were losing money turned a profit, and public security strengthened.”

“That sort of stuff is what motivates me to support Bolsonaro. In no way would I cast my vote for Lula.”

Only 11 years old at the time of Lula’s first presidential election in 2002, Mr. Ramp. However, he claims to recall how Lula’s Workers’ Party was deeply mired in corruption scandals in the years that followed.

He claims that if Lula, who spent time in jail on corruption accusations before his convictions were overturned, were to win reelection, it would be “humiliating” for the nation, like many other Brazilians who are against him.

Bolsonaro “is not the perfect candidate,” as Mr. Ramp admits. He refers to the president’s propensity to make divisive, impolite, and homophobic utterances as having a “very serious problem in that he talks too much.”

Mr. Ramp describes himself as a liberal on social matters, in contrast to many of Mr. Bolsonaro’s ardent followers.

He believes that same-sex couples should have the same legal rights as heterosexual couples and that abortion should be permitted up until 12 weeks of pregnancy, but he claims to appreciate the president’s harsh stance on crime.

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