Brazilian presidential election

 Brazilian presidential election

Lula can have the last laugh in the election battle

Right-wing leader and current president Jair Bolsonaro and left-wing candidate and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva — neither received the required 50 percent of the vote in Sunday's first round of voting.  Therefore, the second round of the Brazilian presidential election will be held in October.  Many political analysts think that Lula's victory in this phase is high.  But for this, Lula has to win the hearts of those voters who rejected him or Bolsonaro in the first round of voting.

In the first round of voting, Lula received 48.3 percent of the vote.  And Bolsonaro got 43.3 percent.  The difference is only 5 percent.  However, about 18 lakh voters did not vote for either of them that day.  The results could have been different had these votes fallen in favor of either of them.  These voters can play a big role in determining the result of the second round of voting.

 From the beginning of the campaign, Lula was slightly ahead of Bolsonaro in various opinion polls.  Especially, his popularity is believed to be high among the youth.  Therefore, many analysts believe that it will be easier for Lula than Bolsonaro to win the hearts of young and still undecided voters before the second round of voting.

In this regard, Rio de Janeiro State University political science professor Joao Feres said, "Lula's chances of winning are high."  Because, he can win the hearts of voters suffering from indecision. He said that in the first round of voting, the candidates who were in the third and fourth positions got a combined 7.2 percent of votes.  Most of these votes may come in favor of Lula in the second round.

In the first round, moderate candidate Simon Tebbett received 4.9 million votes.  Leftist candidate Ciro Gomez got 3.6 million votes.  Having been knocked out of the first round of voting, they now support Lula.  Therefore, many of their supporters will vote for Lula in the second round of elections, according to pollster Poderdata.  And these votes could make the final difference between Bolsonaro and Lula.

32.7 million voters abstained from voting in Sunday's election in Brazil, which is about 21 percent of the country's total electorate.  Never since the 1998 elections have such a large number of voters been absent from the polls.  The two candidates have taken it as a big challenge to drag them to the center in the second round of voting.

Poderdata predicts that 55 percent of these voters could support Lula when he comes to the center on October 30.  45 percent of voters can support Bolsonaro.  Even so, the chances of Lula's victory are high.

Andy Roman, chief executive of polling firm AtlasIntel, said, "The sooner undecided voters can make a final decision, the more likely Lula will win." According to him, Lula should now focus more on pleasing the voters of Sao Paulo.  Here he can make a big difference.

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