BRASILIA.- The former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva arrives at the presidential elections on Sunday with the possibilities still alive of a victory in the first round, which would become bad news for the current president and his main rival at the polls, Jair Bolsonaro, According to the latest polls, broadcast hours before election day.
Lula gathers 48% of the support, while Bolsonaro appears with 34% -a wide difference of 14 points-, according to a survey by the Institute datasheet, which shows stability in the leadership of the race to the Planalto Palace compared to the last poll on Thursday.
If only valid votes are considered (without blanks or null), as the Brazilian electoral system counts, Lula obtains 50% of the preferences, a percentage that would allow him to win without the need for a second round, and Bolsonaro, who is seeking re-election, harvests 36%.
In case of tie-upwhich would be October 30, Lula would win with 54%, compared to 38% for the far-right president, according to the Datafolha survey, which consulted 12,800 people and carries a margin of error of two percentage points.
In third place would be Simone Tebet (senator of the Brazilian Democratic Movement), who achieved 6% of voting intentions.
In another survey also published on Saturday, by the consultancy ipec (formerly Ibope), Lula appears with 51% of the valid votes against Bolsonaro, with 37%. This survey gave 52% of the valid votes to Lula on September 26, and 34% to the current president.
Bolsonaro has insisted during the campaign that he distrusts the polls, that he believes in the support of the “people in the streets” and that will win in the first round.
Lula, for his part, expressed on Saturday his confidence that the election is resolved this sunday and that his victory will serve to “recover the right of this people to be happy.”
The survey by Datafolha, a reference institute in Brazil, shows stability for the two most voted candidates compared to the last poll, published on Thursday, before the last presidential Debate, marked by strong aggression between the candidates.
Meanwhile, in the fight for the governorate of São Paulo -a battle with national impact-, Fernando Haddad, candidate for the Workers’ Party (PT), has 39% of the valid votes followed with 31% by Tarcisio de Freitas, from the Republican Party and an ally of President Jair Bolsonaro according to Datafolha.
In third place with 23% was Rodrigo García, current governor of São Paulo and belonging to the Brazilian Social Democracy Party.
According to this poll, which has a margin of error of 2 points for more and less, Haddad (former presidential candidate in 2018) and Freitas will have to contest the ballottage on October 30 in São Paulo, the country’s main electoral college.
AFP agency