Brazil went to the polls on Sunday for its 2026 presidential election, pitting incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term, against Liberal Party Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, who is seeking to carry forward the right-wing populist agenda championed by his father, Jair Bolsonaro.
Opinion polls indicate a closely contested race between the two front-runners. Unless one candidate secures more than half the valid vote, a runoff is expected on October 25.
Both campaigns concluded their final push on Saturday in Sao Paulo, the country’s economic center and the state with the largest electoral weight.
Lula pledges to ‘defeat the far right’
The 80-year-old Lula ended his campaign with a tour of Sao Paulo city, where he vowed to “defeat the far right.” He framed the contest as a choice between “democracy and sovereignty” and “barbarism and corruption.” Organizers reported that about 150,000 supporters attended his rally in Brazil’s largest city.
Lula has centered his campaign on advancing the Workers’ Party’s left-leaning agenda, including expanded welfare programs, state-led development projects, and policies aimed at income redistribution.
Bolsonaro pushes law-and-order platform
Flavio Bolsonaro, 45, has represented Rio de Janeiro in the Senate since 2019 as a member of the Liberal Party. On Saturday, he led a motorcycle parade through the interior Sao Paulo cities of Santa Barbara d’Oeste and Americana.
The candidate has emphasized strict security measures and tax relief, criticizing what he describes as the high cost of living under Lula and calling the incumbent “incompetent.”
“I am convinced that everything is in place for us to win this election in the first round,” Bolsonaro said.
He also held up a portrait of his father while supporters in the crowd chanted “mito,” a Portuguese term meaning “legend” that Jair Bolsonaro’s adherents commonly use for him.
A rematch with Brazil’s 2022 contest
Jair Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year prison sentence for attempting a coup after his defeat to Lula in the 2022 presidential election. Flavio Bolsonaro has pledged to pardon his father if elected president.
Lula’s campaign has portrayed the Bolsonaro movement as a threat to Brazil’s sovereignty, pointing to the close ties between the elder Bolsonaro and US President Donald Trump. In response to Jair Bolsonaro’s coup trial, which Trump described as a “witch hunt,” the US president imposed a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports last year.
Flavio Bolsonaro has told interviewers that he is “more moderate” than his father, while also saying Jair Bolsonaro remains “my compass, my point of reference.”
The two share several policy positions, including support for looser gun control laws and skepticism toward human-caused climate change.
Trump has not formally endorsed the senator, but has said he is watching the election “very closely.”
What happens next?
Brazil remains sharply divided politically, and the final campaign has been marked by intense online conflict. Teams on both sides have exploited every misstep, accusation, and rumor, rapidly producing polished videos and AI-generated images for social media.
In September, reports revealed that Flavio Bolsonaro is under investigation for alleged corruption, money laundering, and tax evasion linked to funding a biopic about his father. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Who is Brazil’s Flavio Bolsonaro?
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Latest first-round polling shows Lula at 46% and Flavio Bolsonaro at 45%, according to data from the Brazilian public opinion research firm Quaest, as cited by Reuters.
If the election proceeds to a runoff, Quaest projects Lula at 42% and Flavio Bolsonaro at 44%.
In 2022, Lula defeated Jair Bolsonaro by a narrow margin of 1.8 percentage points.
Besides electing a president, Brazil’s 160 million registered voters are also choosing other lawmakers, governors, and some senators.
Brazil election: Lula, Bolsonaro focus on women’s vote
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