World News: Brazil girds for tight runoff vote after Bolsonaro’s strong showing – Gulf Digital News

World News: Brazil girds for tight runoff vote after Bolsonaro’s strong showing – Gulf Digital News

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro and his leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday buckled up for four more weeks of intense election campaigning after the president's unexpectedly strong showing in the first round set up a tight Oct. 30 runoff vote.

Lula, a two-term former president who was jailed on corruption convictions that were later overturned, won the most votes in Sunday's presidential election, and for many analysts is still the favorite to win the race later this month.

But Bolsonaro's better-than-expected performance revitalized his campaign, giving credence to his claim that the pollsters were wrong to write him off in Brazil's most fraught election since the end of military rule in 1985.

The far-right leader's strong showing also prolonged questions about whether Brazil's democratic institutions will withstand his unfounded allegations that the country's voting system cannot be trusted.

Walking her dog in Rio de Janeiro's Lagoa neighborhood, Marcia Oliviera, 69, was outraged at how surveys misread Bolsonaro's support.

"The polling companies have zero credibility," she said, calling Lula a "crook, a thief, a snake charmer. I find it unbelievable that people could vote for him."

Most polling firms had given Lula a 10-15 point lead ahead of Sunday's vote, raising