(Brasilia) Outgoing head of state Jair Bolsonaro was slightly ahead of the first round of the presidential election with more than half of the ballot boxes stripped, ahead of poll favorite Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Posted at 7:01 p.m.
The far-right president totaled 46.31% of the vote, against 44.86% for Lula, while 52.21% of the ballot boxes were counted, according to the official website of the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE), which counts the votes.
“Bolsonaro is in front. I bet it. Datafolha (the benchmark polling institute) will crash again, ”tweeted MP Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of the president.
The latest Datafolha poll, on Saturday evening, gave the icon of the left Lula largely in the lead, with 50% of the vote, against 36% for Jair Bolsonaro, and a chance of winning in the first round.
At the headquarters of the Workers’ Party (PT) of Lula, a hotel in Sao Paulo (southeast), the tension was palpable, while the results were shelled.
At the start of the count, Jair Bolsonaro was more than five points ahead of Lula, but the gap then gradually narrowed.
“Everyone is nervous. Bolsonaro is in the lead, but the counting is more advanced in the Bolsonarist states. We are going to reverse the situation,” Sonia Guajajara, indigenous leader and parliamentary candidate, told AFP.
Bolsonaro, for his part, was following the count at the Alvorada Palace, his official residence in Brasilia.