BELO HORIZONTE: Brazil’s presidential candidates were gearing up for their final rallies on Saturday in a scramble for votes on the eve of a white-knuckle election that has deeply polarised Latin America’s largest economy.

The 77-year-old charismatic leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, tarnished by graft allegations, remains a hair’s breadth ahead in the polls after a narrow first-round victory. But many see the race against controversial far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, 67, as too close to call.

The two men came face to face for the last time on Friday night in their final debate, which featured mutual accusations of lying, corruption and disastrous management.

The run-off campaign has been a dirty, gloves-off battle for every last vote between two men adored and hated in almost equal measure.

In Belo Horizonte, the capital of key state Minas Gerais, Bolsonaro supporters gathered in the bright green and yellow colours of Brazil that they have adopted to cheer on the hardline conservative at a motorcycle rally. “I am sure he will win,” said small business owner Fabricia Alves, 36.

He said he supports the incumbent because he has seen the economy picking up after the Covid-19 pandemic, and “for the values” he sees as key.

“I am against abortion and gender ideology, which is what the other party wants to impose on our country.” Lula reiterated in Friday’s debate that he was anti-abortion — a delicate issue in socially conservative Brazil.

‘Whoever gets most votes, wins’

Bolsonaro is seeking reelection after a first term in which he was accused of mishandling the pandemic, which left more than 685,000 dead in Brazil.

His tenure was marked by vitriolic attacks on his perceived rivals, ranging from the judiciary to women and foreign leaders.

In campaign ads, Bolsonaro apologised for his occasional “slightly aggressive” tone, and he has boasted of reduced crime rates, a drop in unemployment figures and curbed inflation.

On Saturday, Brazil’s electoral authorities dispatched electronic ballot boxes across the country, from cities to remote Indigenous areas in the Amazon, reported Globo News.

“We are absolutely certain that Sunday will be a day of celebration of democracy, a celebration of popular choice. I am sure that all 156 million Brazilians will respect the result of the election,” Top electoral judge Alexandre de Moraes told Brazil’s biggest network.

Bolsonaro on Friday night made one of his clearest pledges yet to respect the election result if he loses, after a campaign in which he has repeatedly attacked the voting system as fraudulent and said he would not accept the results of an “abnormal” vote.

“There isn’t the slightest doubt: whoever gets the most votes, wins. That’s democracy,” he said. Lula will make his final appearance in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s economic powerhouse, later on Saturday.

The leftist, Brazil’s president from 2003 to 2010, is seeking a spectacular comeback, telling voters they are choosing between “democracy and barbarism, between peace and war.” He was the country’s most popular president when he left office, helping to lift millions out of poverty with his social welfare programmes.

But he then became mired in a massive corruption scandal and was jailed for 18 months before his convictions were thrown out last year. The Supreme Court found the lead judge was biased, but Lula was never exonerated.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2022