More than one million Lula supporters rally on eve of Brazilian election runoff

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was cheered by a huge crowd on Copacabana beach on Saturday amid hopes he can secure an historic fourth term. Photograph: Agustín Marcarian/ReutersView image in fullscreenLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva was cheered by a huge crowd on Copacabana beach on Saturday amid hopes he can secure an historic fourth term.

Photograph: Agustín Marcarian/ReutersBrazilMore than one million Lula supporters rally on eve of Brazilian election runoffNearly 159 million people to head to polls on Sunday in battle between leftwing incumbent and Flávio Bolsonaro.

Preferir o Guardian no Google Mais de um milhão de apoiadores do presidente de esquerda do Brasil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, se reuniram na praia mais famosa do Rio para um protesto gigante que esperam que o impulsione em direção a uma luta histórica nas eleições contra seu rival de extrema-direita, Flávio Bolsonaro.

Nearly 159m Brazilians will vote in the election’s runoff on Sunday, with the pair tied in the polls after Bolsonaro won the first round on 4 October by 47% to 45%.

On Saturday, under a fierce sun, red-clad crowds packed the 2. 5-mile Copacabana beach in an attempt to help Lula clinch a dramatic and unprecedented comeback. Never since the return of democracy to Brazil in the 1980s has the first-round loser managed to bounce back.

Josias Silva, caminhoneiro de 61 anos, expressou confiança de que seu presidente de 80 anos, eleito pela primeira vez em 2002, vencerá um quarto mandato não consecutivo.

Ele carregou um cartaz caseiro para a procissão de estilo carnavalesco com a mensagem: “Lula reeleito. Amanhã será um novo dia.”.

View image in fullscreenLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva waves to supporters on Saturday. Photograph: Dhavid Normando/AP“The people have woken up,” Silva said of the large pro-Lula street protests that have swept Brazil since the leftist’s first-round defeat, many led by students.

Polls suggest a far tighter margin and most analysts see Bolsonaro, whose father, Jair Bolsonaro, was president from 2019 to 2022, as the slight favourite, having sold himself to voters as someone who will tackle chronic levels of violent crime with an iron fist.

However, in recent days Lula has appeared to regain the initiative and climb in the polls, amid a succession of scandals involving his rightwing foe. Last week the Brazilian magazine Piauí claimed that at the height of Brazil’s 2020 coronavirus outbreak, Flávio Bolsonaro attended a boat party attended by sex workers and vaccine lobbyists hoping to strike a deal with the government of his father.

View image in fullscreenPeople watch a televised debate between Flávio Bolsonaro and his election rival on Friday. Photograph: Adriano Machado/ReutersSome experts speculate a Lula comeback may be possible.

At the Copacabana rally – which Rio’s City Hall said attracted about 1. 1 million people – activists unfurled an enormous yellow and green banner declaring: “WE ARE GOING TO TURN THIS AROUND!”.

Na tarde de sábado, Lula participou de um protesto ainda maior na Avenida Paulista, no coração da maior cidade do Brasil, São Paulo.

Moraes said the election was not about left versus right. “We’ve nothing against the right … what we’re against is Bolsonarismo,” she said, tears filling her eyes as she recalled how Flávio Bolsonaro’s father botched the response to Covid during his chaotic 2019-2022 administration.

View image in fullscreenLula supporters on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro. Photograph: Agustín Marcarian/ReutersJair Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup after he lost the 2022 election to Lula.

Many Brazilian democrats fear he will be released – and could even return to government – if his son wins. Reports in the Brazilian press suggest several of Bolsonaro’s fellow plotters – who are now in prison or hiding in exile – may be given top military and police jobs in a Bolsonaro administration.

Cammy Marinho, a 49-year-old DJ and activist, said: “I’m here to prevent democracy becoming extinct – which is what the Bolsonaro family wants”.

Marinho disse que havia passado a última quinzena lutando para convencer pessoas que votaram em Bolsonaro, ou que não votaram na primeira volta, a apoiar Lula.

Read more“It’s non-stop work: in the bakery, in the supermarket, on the underground – whenever you feel there is an opening to talk to someone and show to them the reality, everything that Lula has done and is doing for the people and everything that this [Bolsonaro] family has done against the people,” she said.

Muitos dos rostos na praia de Copacabana eram adolescentes, incluindo o de 14 anos, Heitor Lopes da Silva. Silva havia vindo da cidade de Duque de Caxias em sua cadeira de rodas, com um cartaz que dizia: “Lula, eu sou uma pessoa com deficiência e estou aqui para te apoiar.”.

View image in fullscreenSome Lula supporters believe he can overturn the lead his rival secured in the first round of voting. Photograph: Agustín Marcarian/ReutersLarge crowds of Bolsonaro supporters also hit the streets, including in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais state, which has Brazil’s second-largest electorate after São Paulo, and is a key bellwether.

No presidential candidate has ever won the presidency without securing Minas Gerais, where Bolsonaro led by just under 5% in the first round.

Thousands of Bolsonaristas gathered to see their candidate in a palm-lined plaza called Praça da Liberdade. To the booming sound of AI-generated funk carioca tracks praising Bolsonaro, a sea of supporters dressed in Brazil’s yellow football jersey waved Brazilian flags – and many of the United States too.

Ver imagem em tela cheia Apoiadores de Bolsonaro, alguns com as bandeiras dos EUA, Israel e Brasil, também realizaram comícios de última hora no sábado. Fotografia: Raquel Cunha/Reuters Antonio Carlos Costa Jr., o dono de um clube de tiro de 59 anos, reclamou: “Lula não fez nada pelo país.”.

Jair Bolsonaro relaxed gun ownership and buying laws – which security experts agree ended up diverting many firearms to criminal gangs – whereas Lula tightened regulations once again.

Lula supporters scoff at the idea that Bolsonaro, who has a history of well-documented ties with members of Rio’s paramilitary “militia” groups, could rid Brazil of criminality.