Voting under way in polarising Brazilian election

AFP.com, 2 Oct, 2022- Brazilians voted Sunday in a polarising presidential election, with leftist front-runner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva vowing to get Brazil “back to normal” amid fears far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro will not accept a defeat.

Lula, who led Brazil in the 2000s and is seeking to make a comeback at 76, voted in his bastion in the southeastern state of Sao Paulo, saying he wanted «a country at peace» after four years under Bolsonaro.
“We don’t want more hate, more discord,” said the ex-president.

Bolsonaro, for his part, voted in Rio de Janeiro, telling reporters the results must be respected if elections are “clean.”

The 67-year-old incumbent, who has repeatedly alleged Brazil’s electronic voting system is plagued by fraud -- without evidence -- did not directly answer journalists’ questions on whether he would respect the result if he loses, saying he was confident he would win despite opinion polls showing Lula with a double-digit lead.