Brazil's Lula Keeps Wide Lead over Incumbent Bolsonaro

World

July 29th, 5:29am

Asharq Al-Awsat

Brazil's former president and presidential frontrunner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva waves during an annual meeting of the Brazilian scientific community at the University of Brasilia, in Brasilia, Brazil, July 28, 2022. REUTERS/Adriano Machado

Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva maintains a wide lead over incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro ahead of the presidential election in October, according to a poll published Thursday. Forty-seven percent of those polled by Datafolha said they intend to support Lula, 76, in the first round, the same result as the poll conducted last month by the consulting firm, AFP said. Support for Bolsonaro, 67, only ticked up by one percentage point, to 29 percent, despite a large social spending package approved two weeks ago by the National Congress. But the results showed Bolsonaro had gained three percentage points among the poorest voters, and six among women. Center-left candidate Ciro Gomes came in third at a meager eight percent among those polled, and center-right candidate Simone Tebet had only two percent support. Political analyst Adriano Laureno said that the social measures announced by the government could help "reduce the gap" between Lula and Bolsonaro, but not sufficiently to turn the tides in the far-right president's favor. But Laureno warned this might prompt Bolsonaro to "intensify" his efforts to cast doubt on the country's electronic voting system, which he has claimed without evidence makes cheating easier. The poll consisted of interviews with 2,556 people between June 27 and 28.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3786311/brazils-lula-keeps-wide-lead-over-incumbent-bolsonaro