São Paulo, Oct 4 (EFE).- Senator Flávio Bolsonaro leads the count in Sunday’s Brazilian presidential election with 48.08% of the vote, while incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is narrowing the gap at 43.93%, according to official results with 89.85% of ballots processed.
If no candidate secures more than 50% of the vote, a runoff election between the top two contenders will take place on October 25.
Trailing Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro (the eldest son of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro) are psychiatrist and author Augusto Cury (2.93%), far-right activist Renan Santos (2.30%), and former Goiás Governor Ronaldo Caiado (2.25%).
Nearly 159 million Brazilians were eligible to vote on Sunday to elect the president and vice president, governors for all 27 states, all 513 members of the Chamber of Deputies, two-thirds of the Senate, and state legislative assemblies.
The campaign, which officially began on August 16, has been marked by deep polarization between the progressive movement led by Lula and the far right spearheaded by Flávio Bolsonaro, the political heir to his father, who is currently under house arrest serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup. EFE
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