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Lula in the election campaign: There are fears that his rival Bolsonaro might not recognize defeat in the elections
PHOTO: AMANDA PEROBELLI/ REUTERS
Brazil will elect a new president on Sunday - and it looks like incumbent Jair Bolsonaro is poised to lose.
According to a survey, a few days before the important vote, challenger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva can extend his lead over the current head of state to 17 percentage points.
According to the polling institute IPEC, Lula would get 48 percent of the votes and Bolsonaro 31 percent in the election at the beginning of October.
In the expected runoff, left-leaning Lula could have a 19-point lead over right-wing populist Bolsonaro.
Brazil will elect a new head of state on October 2nd.
There are fears that Bolsonaro might not concede defeat.
He has questioned Brazil's electronic voting system in the past, repeatedly citing the possibility of voter fraud.
He provided evidence – similar to the voted-out US President Donald Trump, whom Bolsonaro ardently admires.
Bolsonaro sows doubts about the electoral system
Among other things, Bolsonaro claims that he won the 2018 presidential election in the first round and not in the runoff.
He has repeatedly threatened not to recognize the result of the forthcoming election if the electronic system is used and if everything does not go according to plan - which by implication means: if he does not win.
The President is urging every voter to have a kind of receipt printed out for their vote.
A constitutional amendment he proposed to enforce this failed in parliament a year ago.
Brazil had invited a European Union observer team to attend the elections in May.
Bolsonaro has been in office since 2018.
Lula ruled the country from early 2003 to late 2010.
He was sentenced to prison before the 2018 election.
The Supreme Court overturned the verdict last year.
The election polarized the Brazilian population like never before in the recent history of the South American country.
asc/Reuters/dpa