Polls have opened for one of the most divisive presidential elections in Brazil’s history, with former left-wing president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tipped to beat far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro.
About 156 million people are eligible to cast their ballots in these elections. Leftist front-runner Da Silva, who is popularly known as Lula, who cast his vote on Sunday, said he is running for president “to get the country back to normal” after four years under Bolsonaro.
“We don’t want more hate, more discord. We want a country at peace,” said the 76-year-old ex-president, who is seeking a comeback after leading Brazil from 2003 to 2010.
“This country needs to recover the right to be happy.” Recent opinion polls have given Lula a commanding lead – the last Datafolha survey published Saturday found that 50 percent of respondents who intend to vote for a candidate said they would vote for Lula, against 36 percent for Bolsonaro.
Credit: aljazeera.com
