The Brazilian presidential race is on.

President Jair Bolsonaro launched the first, Tuesday August 16, the official campaign for the October election in Brazil.

The outgoing has chosen, like the other favorite, ex-president Lula, a place that has deeply marked his political career: the one where he was close to death in 2018.

Jair Bolsonaro was at midday in Juiz de Fora, "the city where I was born again", he said in the introduction to his speech.

The former army captain, 67, pushed the symbolism down to the smallest detail by climbing onto a platform installed on the very intersection where he had been stabbed by an unbalanced person.

Dressed in a black jacket buttoned up to the neck concealing the shapes of a bulletproof vest, Jair Bolsonaro gave a speech loaded with patriotic declarations and allusions to God and the Bible.

He reiterated his pledge to fight double-digit inflation, abortion, drugs and defend 'private property', brandishing 'communist' threat to Brazil if he loses October election to rival Lula .   

A very "polarized" election

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 76, also chose to enter the countryside in a place full of symbolism: an automobile factory in his stronghold of Sao Bernardo do Campo, near Sao Paulo, industrial zone where he was a turner-miller before becoming a union leader.

Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gives a speech at a Volkswagen car factory in Sao Bernardo do Campo, August 16, 2022. © AFP

"Lula has always gone there during the key moments of his political career, to reinforce his image as a representative of the workers," Adriano Laureno, political analyst at the consultancy firm Prospectiva, told AFP.

"As for Bolsonaro, he wants to present himself as a 'chosen one of God' who survived the attack" of 2018, continues this specialist, for whom this election is "the most polarized since the redemocratization" after the military dictatorship (1964 -1985). 

The two favorites have already been crisscrossing the country for several weeks to get in touch with voters, but the official campaign, with meetings and distribution of leaflets, is only authorized from this Tuesday.

The TV spots will only be aired from August 26.

Lula is the favorite but the gap is closing

Monday evening, a poll by the Ipec institute gave a comfortable advantage to the former left-wing president, with 44% of voting intentions in the first round, against 32% for the outgoing head of state.

The gap is closing, however.

At the end of July, an opinion poll by the other benchmark institute, Datafolha, reported a larger gap: 47% for Lula, 29% for Bolsonaro.

The Head of State intends to catch up with the social aid recently approved by Parliament during a controversial amendment to the Constitution which exceptionally authorizes new expenditure during the electoral period.

The main concern of Brazilians, according to polls, is the economic situation, marked in recent years by high levels of unemployment and inflation that have undermined Bolsonaro's popularity.

With AFP   

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