follow the day of the second round, with a duel which promises to be tight between Bolsonaro and Lula

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12:17 p.m. : Polling stations have just opened in Brazil. If the polls have been predicting for months a third term of four years for the former left-wing head of state Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010), the outgoing far-right president Jair Bolsonaro can still believe it after his unexpected score of the 1st round (43% against 48% in Lula).

12:11 p.m. : “You have to be extremely careful” with the polls which give Lula in the lead, warns on franceinfo Christophe Ventura, director of research at IRIS. This specialist in Brazil remains cautious about the outcome of the ballot and warns of the risk of tension, even of disputes from the Bolsonaro camps in the event of Lula’s victory.

(CARL DE SOUZA / AFP)

12:01 : At noon, here are the titles:

At least 153 people died after a mob in Seoul during Halloween festivities, according to the latest provisional report. A Frenchman is among the victims, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap.

Some 156 million voters are being called to the polls today for the second round of the Brazilian presidential election. It pits far-right outgoing president Jair Bolsonaro against left-wing candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The toll of the double car bomb attack yesterday in the center of the Somali capital Mogadishu has risen to 100 dead, deplores President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

A Franco-Australian national has been kidnapped in the east of the country. France, “in connection with his family”hope “obtain his early release”.

11:47 : Simone Lauar and Anna Neves have themselves been very affected by the pandemic, like many inhabitants of the favela. “I lost five aunts and uncles. Two were nurses, they were on the front line”explains Simone. “The day we buried my uncle, the president said we had to ‘stop being a country of queers’ in the face of Covid-19. It was the death that shook me the most.” Read the rest of this report here.

11:50 a.m. : In the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, more than 8,600 deaths from the virus have been recorded in two years, according to the independent count of a collective of associations, more than in countries like Denmark or Ireland. “Bodies of Covid-19 victims remained in homes for two to three days. This caused a lot of trauma for people”, observes Simone Lauar. With her lifelong friend, Anna Neves, they launched a psychological support service in the favelas of Maré.

(VALENTINE PASQUESOONE / FRANCEINFO)

11:45 a.m. : In Maré, the Frente da Maré association, born with the Covid-19 pandemic, organizes distributions of hot meals every Saturday for the inhabitants suffering from hunger. “The state should have protected these families”annoys Anisio Borba, figure of the association. “There was a time before any help was given, and that help was not enough.” Without the action of certain inhabitants and collectives, “many more families would have starved to death”.

11:47 : Today, another evil, hunger, is gaining ground in the Brazilian favelas. The daycare center where Debora Silva de Carvalho worked had to close its doors with the pandemic, pushing the resident of Maré to sell recyclable products found on the street. During month “difficult to bear”the few reais obtained allowed him to buy bread and milk, sometimes the only daily meal for the children. “I fed them this and put them to bed”painfully remembers the Brazilian, stirred by the memory of “water with sugar” that she drank to keep going.

(VALENTINE PASQUESOONE / FRANCEINFO)

11:46 : In Brazil, the populations of the favelas have been among the most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the failing management of this health crisis. Two years later and as the presidential election approached, I went to the favelas of Maré, in Rio de Janeiro, to better understand the consequences left by the epidemic.

10:57 : Hello @Louison. Polling stations must close at 5 p.m. in Brazil (9 p.m. Paris time). There is no exit poll, so the result should be announced before 8 p.m. (midnight in Paris), according to AFP estimates.

10:57 : Around what time this night will we have in France the first estimates of the votes of this very important election and their consequences if the extreme right refuses the vote unfavorable to its candidate or the opposite just as much by the people? Thanks

10:54 : On October 2, the day of the first round, Mauricio Lobato voted for a “third way” candidate, the centrist Ciro Gomes. His voice will finally go to Jair Bolsonaro in the second round, after several days of reflection. His vote is not a choice of the heart, far from it. “The economy is really what weighed the most”explains Mauricio Lobato, defining himself as “rather liberal and therefore rather to the right”. To his eyes, “Bolsonaro is more responsible in terms of spending” than Lula.

(VALENTINE PASQUESOONE / FRANCEINFO)

10:50 a.m. : In Brazil, gun owners are strongly defended by the outgoing president. Bernardo Mattos, who has carried a weapon since he was 21 “to defend [sa] life”will vote for Jair Bolsonaro today. “Bolsonaro has given more visibility to this world”, greets the shooting teacher, manager of a gun store and collector of around sixty firearms. Thanks to the manager, “there is less fear and more knowledge. People understand that good people can have a gun”he welcomes.

(VALENTINE PASQUESOONE / FRANCEINFO)

10:48 : In Sao Joao de Meriti, a working-class suburb north of Rio, I notably met Michele, 32, a former voter of Lula disgusted by accusations of corruption. This married woman, of evangelical confession, firmly believes in the doctrine of President Bolsonaro: “God, Country and Family”. “He made it his priorities”, she says. The Brazilian, who sees family as “the basis of society”joins its candidate on the defense of the “traditional” model.

(VALENTINE PASQUESOONE / FRANCEINFO)

10:46 : Some 156 million Brazilians are being called to the polls today, for the second round of the presidential election. Will they vote in majority for a return of “Lula”, or for the maintenance in power of Jair Bolsonaro? As the election approached, I went to meet four voters of the far-right president in the Rio de Janeiro region. Here are their testimonials.

(VALENTINE PASQUESOONE / ASTRID AMADIEU / FRANCEINFO)

10:42 : Religion has taken a dominant place in the Brazilian presidential election, which opposes Jair Bolsonaro to Lula. The two candidates are trying to seduce the evangelical electorate.

11:23 : Very divisive, it leaves a violent and divided Brazil. “He is the embodiment of a nihilism, of a politics that does not carry hope, in which everyone must fight with his knife and his gun for his private property”, Iris researcher Christophe Ventura explained to me. Details here.

11:23 : It is in terms of the environment and health that Jair Bolsonaro’s record is the most disastrous, according to the researchers. Deforestation reached the same level in 2021 as in 2008. At the same time, its refusal to defend vaccines against Covid-19 and the lack of aid provided to the hospital system contributed to making the country the second, in number of deaths in the world.

11:21 a.m. : Let’s start with the economy. Elected on an ultra-liberal economic program, Jair Bolsonaro has worked to reduce the role of the state in the economy. He has nevertheless multiplied support measures at the end of his mandate, but these are not funded.

11:21 a.m. : A “disaster”. This is, in a nutshell, how we could sum up Jair Bolsonaro’s four years in power, according to the specialists interviewed by franceinfo. A balance sheet, which I tell you about in this article, which does not however reduce the chances of the far-right president against Lula, while the second round of the Brazilian presidential election is being held today.

(MATEUS BONOMI / ANADOLU AGENCY / AFP)

09:06 : To begin, here is a first point on the news

At least 151 people died and 89 were injured after crowds swirled in Seoul during Halloween festivities, according to the latest provisional report. The authorities also report 355 people missing early this morning.

Some 156 million voters are being called to the polls today for the second round of the Brazilian presidential election. It pits far-right outgoing president Jair Bolsonaro against left-wing candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The toll of the double car bomb attack yesterday in the center of the Somali capital Mogadishu has risen to 100 dead, deplores President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

A Franco-Australian national has been kidnapped in the east of the country. France, “in connection with his family”hope “obtain his early release”.