A tight race is expected as left-wing Lula seeks a fourth non-consecutive term against right-wing Flavio Bolsonaro, son of the convicted former president.
Brazil’s presidential elections have opened, once again pitting left-wing incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva against a right-wing candidate from the Bolsonaro family, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
About 160 million registered voters are eligible to vote in Sunday’s elections, which will elect lawmakers, governors and senators.
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If no presidential candidate receives more than 50 percent of the valid votes, the two main contenders will proceed to a runoff on October 25.
Most opinion polls ahead of the vote showed a close fight, with Lula holding a marginal advantage over Bolsonaro, which narrows further in a possible runoff.
Flavio Bolsonaro voted on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, declaring that he wanted to “liberate the Brazilian people”.
“Brazil needs change… it can no longer bear suffering, like high taxes, so many women killed,” he said, adding that he was confident of his first-round victory.
Lula, of the Workers’ Party, is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term. The 80-year-old, who served as president from 2003 to 2010, wants to continue his series of social programs aimed at combating inequality.
Bolsonaro, of the Liberal Party, has promised a tough stance on crime and insecurity. The 45-year-old also pledged to work closely with the United States under President Donald Trump.
His father is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence for his role in a coup plot following his electoral defeat to Lula by 1.8 percentage points in 2022. The far-right leader’s conviction and that of several military officers have raised questions about the strength of Brazilian democracy, reviving past trauma from the 21-year period in which Brazil was ruled by a U.S.-backed military dictatorship.
Al Jazeera’s Lucia Newman said from Sao Paulo that “the Brazilian president is on a collision course with Donald Trump, who is a staunch supporter of Lula’s longtime foe Jair Bolsonaro.”
“This places Brazil in the middle of a fierce competition between Washington and China for political, diplomatic and economic dominance, especially since Brazil is a power on all of these fronts,” Newman added.
The presidential election was dominated by issues such as crime, insecurity and the high cost of living. Corruption and concerns about U.S. intervention in the country’s internal affairs also dominated the campaign.
A recent Quaest survey indicates that violence was cited as the biggest concern by 31 percent of respondents, followed by corruption (20 percent), the economy (19 percent) and health care (12 percent).
“The stakes in this election are incredibly high because the candidates are holding very opposing views of what Brazil’s recent history means,” Andre Pagliarini, an assistant professor of history and international studies at Louisiana State University and author of a book on Lula, told Al Jazeera.
He added that while Lula embodies the “consolidation of Brazilian democracy since the end of the dictatorship,” the Bolsonaro family claims that “the institutions that Brazilian democracy has erected since the end of the dictatorship are rotten and insensitive.”
With reporting by Brian Osgood
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