Brazilians are voting today in the first round of their country's most polarized election in decades, with leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva favoured to beat right-wing incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.
Right-wing incumbent Bolsonaro expected to lose to leftist Lula, but unclear whether he will accept defeatVoters wait in line to cast ballots in Brazil's presidential election on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro. If no candidate wins more than half of the votes, excluding blank and spoiled ballots, the top two finishers go to an Oct. 30 run-off.
A message projected on Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer statue ahead of the vote read: "Peace in the Elections." Bolsonaro has threatened to contest the result of the vote, after making baseless allegations of fraud, accusing electoral authorities of plotting against him and suggesting the military should conduct a parallel tally, which they declined to do.
Bolsonaro says he will respect the election result if voting is "clean and transparent," without defining any criteria.Brazilians are also voting on Sunday for all 513 members of the lower chamber of Congress, a third of the 81 members of the Senate, and state governors and legislatures. Former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who's running against Bolsonaro, greets supporters on Sunday in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Most polls have shown Lula with a solid lead, but Bolsonaro signalled he may refuse to accept defeat, stoking fears of institutional crisis or post-election violence.