Brazil braces for result of knife-edge election after voting chaos

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil braced Sunday for the results of a nail-biting election pitting leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva against right-wing senator Flavio Bolsonaro, after a last-minute order to extend polling by two hours generated chaos and confusion.

It is the final electoral battle for Lula, who turns 81 on Tuesday and is hoping to pull off a dramatic turnaround after coming in second to the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro in the first round of voting.

Final polls showed the two candidates neck-and-neck.

The counting of votes from Brazil's electronic machines restarted after a last-minute order from the Supreme Court to extend voting. Results are usually available in a few hours.

Lula had asked for the extension, claiming that buses had been pulled from circulation in Sao Paulo and key northeastern cities, a bastion of his support.

Flavio Bolsonaro also requested an extension in some parts of the country due to heavy rains.

Some polling stations had already closed, and tallies had begun streaming in when polling stations where ordered to stay open.

In a clarification, Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin said the order only applied to "locations where polling stations have not yet been closed."

- 'WE ARE WATCHING' -

Sunday's runoff will determine whether Brazil remains one of Latin America's few leftist nations or joins a regional swing to the right championed by US President Donald Trump.

Lula, who is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term, has pitched himself as a bulwark against US interference and democratic backsliding.

Trump, an ally of Flavio Bolsonaro's father, simply said "we are watching, yeah," when asked about Brazil's election on Sunday.

The 45-year-old senator has vowed to crack down on crime and slash government spending, while handing Brazil to "the Lord Jesus Christ."

"The time has come for real change," he declared after voting in Rio de Janeiro.

"This is about renewal, enough of the same old thing," 67-year-old retiree Eduardo Viana told AFP, adding that Lula "says he governs for the poor...just look, people can't even go to the supermarket."

Bolsonaro presents himself as more moderate than his firebrand father, who is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup after he lost in the 2022 elections.

After its first-round defeat, the left swung into action with massive rallies highlighting Jair Bolsonaro's chaotic handling of the Covid pandemic, devastation of the Amazon rainforest and cuts to public programs.

Deforestation of the world's largest rainforest has hit its lowest level in four decades under Lula.

Yet, as the El Nino weather phenomenon fuelled fires across the Amazon in recent weeks, and rains lashed the south, climate change barely featured in the campaign.

- LULA'S REVAMP -

Lula, revered for social welfare programs that lifted millions out of poverty, made a dramatic comeback to office in 2022 elections after a corruption scandal saw him jailed for over 18 months.

The charges, annulled on procedural grounds, have continued to haunt him.

In his third term he has overseen a drop in inflation and unemployment, and lifted millions out of hunger, but voters complain about the cost of living and a sense of insecurity.

After his first-round blow, Lula revamped his social media strategy and even bought his first cellphone.

A fierce social media battle drew in Meta, parent company of WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, which Lula's campaign accused of favoring his opponent with "algorithmic manipulation."

Meta denied this but acknowledged that some of Lula's campaign ads had been mistakenly deactivated due to technical errors.

The bitterly divisive campaign alienated many voters, including doorman Joao Inacio Oliveira, who told AFP he would make a last-minute decision at the polling station.

"I don't know who I'm going to vote for," said Oliveira, 72. "I don't have any hope in the governments that come and go in Brazil."--AFP