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By Anthony Boadle
BRASILIA (Reuters) – The Brazilians will vote Sunday in a polarized presidential race that could culminate in the election of a former far-right army captain, whose The eulogy of past dictatorships scandalized the critics his supporters.
Leader Jair Bolsonaro, who some call tropical trump, has taken a leap in polls this week.
After the discovery of one of the world's biggest political stratagems, opposition to the return to power of the left-wing Workers Party (PT), responsible for much of this corruption, aroused the group's anger. the country with more murders than any other.
But Brazil is divided on the cost it could pay to its democracy when it chose Bolsonaro, a long-time congressional member who repeatedly praised the 1964-1985 military regime, but S & # It is now committed to sticking firmly to democratic ideals, a conversion that raises many questions.
The closest rival to Bolsonaro is the PT candidate, Fernando Haddad, former mayor of Sao Paulo and former Minister of Education. He replaces the party's founder, former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, imprisoned.
Two polls released late Saturday showed that Bolsonaro had increased his lead over Haddad over the last two days, taking 36 percent of the vote, compared to 22 percent for Haddad. The pair is in stalemate when a second vote likely on Oct. 28, required if no candidate wins a majority Sunday.
Polling stations open at 08:00 (11:00 GMT) and close at 17:00. in all but the most western parts of Brazil. Exit polls should be broadcast at 7 pm and the results will begin to circulate soon after, as Brazil uses an electronic voting system.
The 147 million voters will choose the president, 513 members of the lower house of Congress, two-thirds of the 81 members of the Senate, as well as governors and legislators from the 27 states.
Nearly two-thirds of the electorate is concentrated in the more densely populated south and southeast of Brazil, where are its largest cities, Sao Paulo and Rio Janeiro, and where Bolsonaro occupies a dominant position. A quarter of the voters are in the less developed north-east, traditionally a stronghold of the PT.
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In the most polarized election since the end of military rule in 1985, Bolsonaro is backed by a group of retired generals who have criticized the PT governments from 2003 to 2016 and publicly advocated military intervention if corruption persists. .
In a final Facebook call for live votes on Saturday night, Bolsonaro, 63, called on Brazilians to help him clean up the political system and set up a better government for Brazil's rich mineral and agricultural resources.
"We have everything, what we need are politicians attached to their country and not to the interests of the parties," he said from his home, where he was recovering from a deadly aggression at the time of his death. A rally for the campaign. He has undergone two emergency surgeries and it is unclear how many times he will be able to campaign if the vote goes to a second round.
Bolsonaro, who sees himself as a Brazilian version of US President Donald Trump, called the charges "false information" to be sexist, racist and homophobic.
A Bolsonaro government would accelerate the privatization of state-owned enterprises to reduce Brazil's budget deficit and relax environmental controls for the agricultural and mining sectors. It would also block efforts to legalize abortion, drugs and gay marriage.
Haddad, who introduced himself as a fiscally responsible moderator, spent the final day of the campaign targeting undecided voters in the state of Bahia, in northeastern Brazil, at the heart of the country's support. PT, but in which Bolsonaro has progressed in the polls.
Haddad blamed Bolsonaro for missing the last presidential debate on Thursday, which, according to other candidates, was a sign that he was not ready to govern. Bolsonaro said he could not be present on the order of his medical team.
The PT candidate said that Bolsonaro wanted to "win the first round without having to debate issues, which is bad for democracy".
"We have the ability to defeat what Bolsonaro represents, to reverse social gains, in terms of civility, solidarity and mutual respect," said Haddad.
(Report by Anthony Boalde in Brasilia, additional report by Eduardo Simões in São Paulo, written by Anthony Boadle, edited by Brad Brooks and Paul Tait)
