Brazil votes in tense presidential runoff between Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro

Brazilians were voting in Sunday’s polarizing presidential runoff between incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro, a contest that will determine whether the U.S. will significantly expand its growing influence in Latin America.

A win for Bolsonaro would signify a pivot to the right by Latin America’s most populous country and its largest economy, in a year when Trump allies have scored victories in Chile, Peru and Colombia. A victory for Lula would leave Brazil and Mexico with left-of-center leaders.

Polls showed the two candidates, who need more than 50% of the vote to become Brazil’s next leader in January, in a neck-and-neck race. The election pits the left-of-center veteran politician Lula against Bolsonaro, an ally of President Trump and the son of imprisoned former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Judge rules to extend voting by 2 hours

Shortly after polls closed, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin ruled to extend voting nationwide for two hours. The ruling came after both presidential candidates had asked the electoral court to extend voting hours in some cities.

Lula’s request came after issues in nine states with buses that provide transportation to polls. Bolsonaro’s request was due to heavy rains in Brazil’s south.

In Brasilia, volunteers who oversaw the vote count at a school debated whether they needed to stay after the announcement to extend voting, but most left 15 to 20 minutes after polls closed and they had given count information to electoral authorities.

Bolsonaro bested Lula by more than 2.2 million votes in the first round of the election earlier this month. However, more than 33 million voters out of nearly 160 million did not turn out.

Bolsonaro and Lula have opposing ideological views on issues ranging from U.S.-Brazil relations and climate change to social welfare.

In many ways, Brazil’s runoff vote is another tight rematch between the country’s two polarized political forces that trigger passion as much as loathing. Four years ago, Lula beat Bolsonaro’s father by the narrowest margin since the country’s return to democracy in 1985.

Security and cost-of-living concerns

Lula, who first governed Brazil between 2003 and 2010, has faced a tough reelection battle because of concerns about the cost of living and security. Bolsonaro made a tough-on-crime approach the cornerstone of his campaign and pledged to bring down food costs.

Both have been hit by corruption suspicions involving family members and allies, with Bolsonaro implicated in a sprawling scandal rocking Brazil. Lula previously spent more than a year in prison on corruption convictions that were eventually annulled.

Bolsonaro’s admission that he accepted about $12 million from disgraced former banker Daniel Vorcaro to produce a film on his father’s life has cast a shadow over his campaign. He is under investigation for corruption, money laundering and tax evasion in connection with the case.

As Bolsonaro voted at a school in Rio de Janeiro, his supporters shouted “Lula, thief, your place is in prison” while Lula’s supporters chanted in his support.

“The time of real change has arrived,” Bolsonaro said. “Brazil can’t go on for another four years on its current trajectory.”

In the lead-up to the vote, Lula frequently portrayed Bolsonaro, whose father is under house arrest for attempting a coup, as a threat to democracy. Bolsonaro has promised to seek an amnesty for his father if elected.

Lula, trying to lure undecided voters, has invested in costly incentives. His government endorsed a debt relief program for small businesses and promised free public transportation on weekends. A major win then came when the Senate backed a popular proposal to end the six-day working week.

Lula thanked his voters for an outpouring of support while casting his ballot in the city of Sao Bernardo do Campo, where he began his political career as a union leader in the 1960s. “It is a lot of generosity, a lot of care, a lot of love. I will be forever grateful,” Lula said.

Lula voters respect his past; Bolsonaro voters want change

Lula voters turned out Sunday driven by his history of supporting marginalized people and working to lift Brazilians out of poverty.

“Lula is a man of the people and he knows what it’s like to be poor,” Luzia da Souza, who runs a bar in Rio de Janeiro, said. “I find it impossible not to vote for him.”

Anderson Falcão, a 43-year-old journalist in Brasilia who sported a red shirt in support of Lula, said he worried about Bolsonaro’s long-term political vision, which he called “exclusionary.”

“It’s a project that harms the less fortunate, harms the worker, women, the forest, the Amazon,” he said.

Bolsonaro voters, many of whom wore yellow and green Brazil jerseys in support of the senator, said they want change.

“Things are really expensive and taxes are too high,” Fabianne Borges Santoro, a 45-year-old physiotherapist in Rio de Janeiro, said. She added that she once voted for Lula’s party but now associates it with corruption.

Third-party voters and abstentions from first round could decide vote

Kelvin Gomes Pimental, a 28-year-old data analyst in Brasilia, voted for a third-party candidate in the first round, making his vote a decisive one in this election. He ultimately decided to vote for Lula.

“It’s not even about Flávio himself. It’s also very much about the management of the other Bolsonaro government. He wanted to stage a coup,” he said. “These issues scare me a little.”

Diogo Furtado, a 35-year-old Uber driver in Rio de Janeiro, didn’t vote the first time because of his work, but said he’ll vote blank on Sunday. He said that neither candidate convinced him.

“Brazil needs a new candidate,” Furtado said. “But unfortunately our country has become dominated by two names: Lula and Bolsonaro.”

Issues with public transportation affect the vote

In Bahia state, a stronghold for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whose voters tend to live in areas that depend more heavily on buses, at least 75 public buses were prevented from leaving municipal garages during the presidential runoff vote, according to a state electoral judge. He ordered the arrest of the mobility secretary of the capital, Salvador, Pablo Souza, in relation to the case.

Mayor Bruno Reis, a Bolsonaro ally, blamed trade unionists for illegally sticking Workers’ Party materials onto transit vehicles for the measure.

President of Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court, Kassio Nunes Marques, confirmed that electoral authorities received a report on problems with buses in Bahia that is being analyzed. He did not confirm if voting would be extended, which Lula requested in Salvador and Sao Paulo, where issues with public transportation were also reported in the city with a mayor allied with Bolsonaro.

“We will not be robbed by mayors, governors or businessmen,” Lula told the press. “These people need to respect democracy.”

Bolsonaro did not immediately comment on the issue.

International observers earlier in the day said that voting was occurring peacefully and with transparency and did not immediately comment on the incident.

The Trump administration looms large

Lula criticized the U.S. president before Brazil’s election, speaking about the risks of U.S. intervention in Brazilian elections after the Trump administration imposed high tariffs against Brazilian exports and classified drug-trafficking groups as foreign terrorist organizations. Experts say the moves may have been intended to make Lula look soft on crime.

Flávio Bolsonaro has touted his proximity to the White House and insisted that Brazil needs to strike better deals with the Trump administration, including in the rare minerals economy. Brazil estimates that its deposits hold up to 21 million tons, second only to China. He denies he’s being helped by the U.S. government.

Mr. Trump said Sunday that he is watching the election but declined to endorse a candidate.

Voting in Brazil is conducted electronically and the result is usually available within hours after polling stations close at 5 p.m. in Brasilia.