Tens of thousands of Lula supporters rally on eve of Brazilian election runoff
Tens of thousands of supporters of Brazil's leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, have gathered on Rio's Copacabana beach in a massive rally ahead of Sunday's election runoff against far-right rival Flávio Bolsonaro.
Nearly 159 million Brazilians will vote in the election's runoff on Sunday, with the pair tied in the polls after Bolsonaro won the first round on October 4 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.
Massive show of support
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.
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.
Bolsonaro's controversies
Polls suggest a far tighter margin and most analysts see Bolsonaro 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. Jair Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup after he lost the 2022 election to Lula.
Democracy at stake
Many Brazilian democrats fear he will be released – and could even return to government – if his son wins. Reports in the Brazilian press suggest several of Bolsonaro's fellow plotters – who are now in prison or hiding in exile – may be given top military and police jobs in a Bolsonaro administration.
Cammy Marinho, a 49-year-old DJ and activist, said: "I'm here to prevent democracy becoming extinct – which is what the Bolsonaro family wants". Many marchers were part of the so-called "Lula's Army" – a 10 million-member WhatsApp group that was created after the first round in the hope of turning the election around.
Being a soldier in Lula's army … means fighting for Brazilian democracy. This isn't a normal election.
Bolsonaro's supporters
Large crowds of Bolsonaro supporters also hit the streets, including in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais state, which has Brazil's second-largest electorate after São Paulo, and is a key bellwether. No presidential candidate has ever won the presidency without securing Minas Gerais, where Bolsonaro led by just under 5% in the first round.
Thousands of Bolsonaristas gathered to see their candidate in a palm-lined plaza called Praça da Liberdade. To the booming sound of AI-generated funk carioca tracks praising Bolsonaro, a sea of supporters dressed in Brazil's yellow football jersey waved Brazilian flags – and many of the United States too. "The US is a great nation. Who wouldn't want to be aligned with them?" said 56-year-old cosmetics entrepreneur Marcos Antonio.
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