The second round campaign ended on Saturday in the south-east of Brazil, and its two largest electoral colleges, with the rallies of Lula, favorite of the presidential election on Sunday, in Sao Paulo, and outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro in Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais.

I am "confident in the victory", declared the 67-year-old outgoing president to the press before leading a procession of motorcyclists who welcomed him with the cheers "Mito, Mito" (Myth, his nickname) and dressed in yellow and green, the colors of the Brazilian flag.

Fake news

"I'm sure he's going to win," Fabricia Alves, 36, a micro-business leader who says she supports Jair Bolsonaro for his economic policy and "for the values" of the family, told AFP. she considers non-negotiable.

"I am not in favor of abortion or gender theory, which is what the other party wants to impose," she explains.

In a country where the voluntary termination of pregnancy is authorized only in rare exceptions, Lula has nevertheless repeated on many occasions, as recently before leaders of evangelical Protestant churches, that he was "personally against abortion". .

But false information on social networks has plagued the entire campaign.

On Friday, during the last televised debate at loggerheads where insults flew ("bandit", "unbalanced"), the two protagonists accused each other of "lying", without exposing their projects for the country with a continental size of 215 million euros. 'inhabitants.

"An anti-debate, without the slightest novelty that could change the situation," said political columnist Otavio Guedes on the Globonews channel.

Lula ahead in the polls

Lula has increased to six points (53%-47%), against four previously, his lead in the latest poll by the benchmark institute Datafolha published Thursday.

A final survey on Saturday will give the trend on the eve of the vote.

But polling institutes were singled out after the first round on October 2 for having completely underestimated Bolsonaro's score, who finally obtained 43% behind Lula at 48%.

"Need for Peace"

Lula, who, at just 77, is seeking to return to power after leading Latin America's largest economy between 2003 and 2010, before being imprisoned for 18 months for corruption and then having his convictions overturned by the justice, was to follow a "victory march" in Sao Paulo.

“Brazil needs a government that takes care of our people again, especially those who need it most.

He needs peace, democracy and dialogue,” Lula wrote in a letter to voters, in which he attacks the country for “hate, lies, intolerance” that he says embodies , Bolsonaro.

In the capital Brasilia, supporters of the two candidates also marched through the streets.

First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro took part in an army Jeep in the "Women with Bolsonaro" caravan which, according to an AFP photographer, gathered around 100 cars.

Bolsonaro ready to accept the results

In this home stretch, Jair Bolsonaro welcomed the slow recovery in activity, with the recent drop in inflation and the decrease in unemployment which stood at 8.7% in September.

And “this with a pandemic and a war that affects the entire world economy (…) There is still a lot to do,” he wrote on his Twitter account.

On Sunday, some 156 million Brazilians are called to vote in the country's 26 states and the Federal District.

In the first round, about 32 million (21%) did not move, however.

These abstentionists are one of the challenges of this second round because only 6 million votes separated the two finalists on the evening of the 1st round.

Voting is compulsory in Brazil but the fine of 3.5 reais, around 0.50 euro, is not a deterrent.

The final vote tally could be tight on Sunday evening and increase tension and polarization in the country.

Jair Bolsonaro, who has long threatened not to recognize the verdict of the polls, and who received the support of former US President Donald Trump on Friday, apparently tempered his position after the debate.

When asked if he would accept a possible defeat, he said: “Whoever has the most votes wins.

It is democracy.

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World

Presidential in Brazil: Jair Bolsonaro, the "Myth" who wants to "restore order"

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