Voting has begun in Brazil's presidential runoff, held after no candidate secured more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round. Some 159 million eligible voters headed to polling stations, which opened at 08:00 local time, to choose the president as well as the governors of six states.
The contest pits incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the ruling party's candidate, against right-wing opposition candidate Flavio Bolsonaro. It is regarded as one of the most closely fought presidential races since the country returned to democracy in 1985.
The latest opinion polls put Bolsonaro at 51 percent and Lula da Silva at 49 percent. However, Bolsonaro's support is reported to have slipped slightly ahead of the runoff, and the race is expected to be neck and neck. In the first round on October 4, Bolsonaro won 47 percent of the vote, while Lula da Silva took 45.1 percent.
Lula da Silva, who led the country for two terms between 2003 and 2010 and was elected again in 2023, is running for the presidency for the seventh time.
During the campaign, on October 17, Lula da Silva filed requests with the Federal Police, the Prosecutor General's Office and the UN Human Rights Council's Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, asking for an investigation into whether Bolsonaro had gained an economic and financial advantage in producing and distributing content on Meta platforms.
