According to the latest polls, former president of Brazil Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva could emerge victorious in the first round of elections this Sunday. Several opinion polling institutes see challenger to current president Jair Bolsonaro clearly ahead with around 50% of the vote. Bolsonaro raised fears beforehand that he might not accept the election results.
“I have to be optimistic now, I don’t have much to do to get the necessary 50 percent plus one vote,” Lula told reporters on Saturday. The leftist former president wants to return to power and is challenging the ultra-conservative leader. The fear of the return of hunger is one of the dominant themes in the vote. The rapidly rising cost of living and the fallout from the corona pandemic are jeopardizing the food supply to an extent that seemed unimaginable a decade ago.
Bolsonaro launched a program to remedy the situation. However, he is well behind his predecessor Lula in the polls. Poorer families, in particular, have recently come out in favor of Lula, who had declared war on extreme poverty and hunger during his presidency from 2003 to 2010.
Bolsonaro has questioned Brazil’s electronic voting system in the past, making baseless allegations of fraud in the 2018 election. In doing so, Bolsonaro has fueled fears that he might not accept the election results. Brazil invited a team of observers from the European Union to participate in the May elections.