Tens of thousands of supporters of Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, have streamed on to Rio’s most famous beach for a giant protest they hope will propel him towards a historic election fightback against his far-right rival, Flávio Bolsonaro. Nearly 159m Brazilians will vote in the election’s runoff on Sunday, with the pair tied in the polls after Bolsonaro won the first round on 4 October by 47% to 45%. On Saturday, under a fierce sun, red-clad crowds packed the 2.5-mile Copacabana beach in an attempt to help Lula clinch a dramatic and unprecedented comeback.
Never since the return of democracy to Brazil in the 1980s has the first-round loser managed to bounce back. Josias Silva, a 61-year-old truck driver, voiced confidence that his 80-year-old president would win a fourth non-consecutive term. He carried a homemade sign to the carnival-like procession reading: “Lula re-elected.
Tomorrow will be a new day.” “The people have woken up,” Silva said of the large pro-Lula street protests that have swept Brazil since the leftist’s first-round defeat, many led by students. We want a country of love,” added Silva, celebrating the large number of people who came to witness one of the final presidential campaign rallies in Lula’s storied 50-year political career. This is the biggest protest in the history of Brazil.
And we are going to win tomorrow with more than 60% of the votes,” Silva claimed. Polls suggest a far tighter margin and most analysts see Bolsonaro, whose father, Jair Bolsonaro, was president from 2019 to 2022, as the slight favourite, having sold himself to voters as someone who will tackle chronic levels of violent crime with an iron fist. However, in recent days Lula has appeared to regain the initiative and climb in the polls, amid a succession of scandals involving his rightwing foe.
Last week the Brazilian magazine Piauí claimed that at the height of Brazil’s 2020 coronavirus outbreak, Flávio Bolsonaro attended a boat party attended by sex workers and vaccine lobbyists hoping to strike a deal with the government of his father. Some experts speculate a Lula comeback may be possible. At the Copacabana rally, activists unfurled an enormous yellow and green banner declaring: “WE ARE GOING TO TURN THIS AROUND!” “I’m super excited.
Lula’s going to win,” said Marta Moraes, a 59-year-old restaurateur, as she joined Saturday’s demo. Moraes said the election was not about left versus right. Jair Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup after he lost the 2022 election to Lula.
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