Event: Brazilian

Brazilians head to the polls on Sunday (October 25, 2026) facing a stark choice — another four years under veteran leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, or a return to the right under Senator Flavio Bolsonaro.It is the final electoral battle for Mr. Lula, who turns 81 next week and is hoping to pull off a dramatic turnaround after a shock second-place finish in the first round to the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro.Final polls showed the two candidates neck-and-neck.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 U.S. President Donald Trump, who has not openly endorsed the son of his ally.Mr. Lula, who is seeking a fourth term in office overall, has pitched himself as a bulwark against U.S. interference and democratic backsliding and promised to expand social protections.Flavio Bolsonaro, 45, has vowed to crack down on crime and slash government spending, while handing Brazil to "the Lord Jesus Christ," with a message of change that won over Brazilians looking for something new."Enough is enough. We've had 16 years of this administration, and it's clear it didn't work. It's time for a change," said Joao Paulo, 37, at a rally in Belo Horizonte, referring roughly to the total period Mr. Lula's Workers' Party (PT) has governed Brazil.Flavio Bolsonaro has pitched himself as more moderate than his firebrand father, who is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for an attempted coup bid after his 2022 election loss.He has vowed that if elected, his first act will be to free Jair Bolsonaro, a deeply divisive figure in Brazil whose legacy loomed large over the campaign of his eldest son.After the first-round defeat, the left swung into action with massive rallies declaring "Never Again Bolsonaro,"…

A campaign rally for Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday. | AFP-JIJI Rio de Janeiro – Copacabana beach turned red for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as hundreds of bikers revved their engines for right-winger Flavio Bolsonaro on Saturday on the eve of Brazil’s nail-biter election.Tens of thousands of supporters flooded the streets as the incumbent and his rival wrapped up a bitter campaign that has left Latin America’s biggest nation more polarized than ever.Lula, who turns 81 next week, jumped up and down on the back of a campaign truck, waving a massive Brazilian flag as he made his way through throngs of supporters wearing the red of his Workers’ Party (PT). In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.By subscribing, you can help us get the story right. SUBSCRIBE NOW

More than one million 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, who was first elected in 2002, 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.”Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva waves to supporters on Saturday. Photograph: Dhavid Normando/AP“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.“Young people know we need this victory because otherwise we will have dictatorship again – and we don’t want dictatorship. We don’t want hatred. We don’t want guns. 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.“There’s never been a demonstration like this one. 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…

Brazilian presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro during the presidential debate at the TV Band studios in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Oct. 18. | BLOOMBERG Two brothers from Brazil’s richest family have emerged as opponents of right-leaning presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro ahead of Sunday’s closely fought runoff election.Joao and Walter Moreira Salles — scions of the Itau Unibanco Holding fortune with a combined net worth of $17.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index — are major donors to progressive and left-leaning congressional candidates and have created journalism and films that are critical of the conservative positions held by Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro. That puts the brothers at odds with much of Brazil’s business elite, which has actively sought to build bridges with the candidate as he’s gained ground in the presidential race.“Flavio is nothing more than his dad’s son; he’s a mediocre man without expression, without history and without ideas,” Joao Moreira Salles wrote in an essay published earlier this month, adding that he’s “less a politician than a last name.” In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.By subscribing, you can help us get the story right. SUBSCRIBE NOW