Brazil election: A clash of political titans as Bolsonaro faces Lula

Brazil's presidential election on October 2 is being contested by 11 candidates, but only two stand a chance of reaching a runoff: former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.

Both are political titans, and eight of 10 Brazilians will vote for one of them, according to pollster Datafolha, USA Today reported on September 29.

That leaves little space for challengers and means that in lieu of fresh proposals and detailed programs, the two frontrunners have mostly harped on their experience and railed against each other.

"Both candidates are very well known, the vote is very crystallized," said Nara Pavão, who teaches political science at the Federal University of Pernambuco, adding that most voters made up their minds long ago.

Sunday's (October 2) election could signal the return of the world's fourth-largest democracy to a leftist government after four years of far-right politics led by a president criticized for challenging democratic institutions, his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic that killed nearly 700,000 people and an economic recovery that has yet to be felt by the poor.

Polls show da Silva with a commanding lead that could possibly even give him a first-round victory without any need for a runoff.

But even if that doesn't happen, the vote itself marks an improbable political comeback for da Silva, a 76-year-old former metalworker who rose from poverty to the presidency — then just four years ago was jailed as part of a massive corruption investigation that targeted his Workers' Party and upended Brazilian politics.

Da Silva's conviction for corruption and money laundering sidelined him from the 2018 race that polls showed him leading, and allowed Bolsonaro — then a fringe, far-right lawmaker — to cruise to victory.

A year later, however, the Supreme Court annulled da Silva's convictions amid accusations the judge and prosecutors manipulated the case against him, which has allowed him to run again now.