Lula hopeful of victory in Brazilian election

Brazil's leftwing former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva appeared on the verge of a startling political comeback last night after more than 156 million Brazilians took part in the country's most important election in decades.

- Tom Phillips and Ana Ionova

As the veteran ex-president cast his vote in Brazil's industrial heartlands, Lula voiced optimism that he was heading for victory over the far-right incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro.

"We want no more hatred, no more quarrelling, we want a country that lives in peace," the 76-year-old told reporters in São Bernardo do Campo, the city where he began his political career as a trade unionist in the 1970s.

Polls on the eve of the election suggested Lula - who governed from 2003 to 2010-was tantalisingly close to securing the overall majority of votes he needs to avoid a second-round runoff against Bolsonaro in late October. One poll gave Lula 51% to Bolsonaro's 37%; another gave them 50% and 36% respectively.

A Lula victory would represent the latest in a series of triumphs for a resurgent Latin American left, following the election of left-wing leaders in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia and Chile.

“I’m going to win these elections so I can give the people the right to be happy again. The people need, deserve and have the right … to be happy once more,” Lula told journalists as he wrapped up his campaigning with a parade through the streets of São Paulo on Saturday.

The prospect of a Lula victory has galvani sed leftwing and centrist Brazilians after four years under Bolsonaro, during which nearly 700,000 people have died with Covid and more than 30 million have been plunged into poverty and hunger.