Brazilians will go to the polls on Sunday to participate in a run-off election to choose a new president. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term in office.
Flávio Bolsonaro, a right-wing senator and the son of former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro, won the top spot in the first round of voting on 4 October. Bolsonaro is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup, though he remains under house arrest due to ill health.
The senator pledged to release his father and campaigned in Belo Horizonte on the eve of the polls. Bolsonaro promised a tough crackdown on organised crime, tax cuts, and public spending cuts while labelling the Workers' Party as corrupt.
Lula and his Workers' Party have framed the election as a "battle for democracy," arguing that the conviction of Bolsonaro for coup-plotting proves that "Bolsonarismo" threatens democratic institutions. The administration of Lula accused the United States of interfering in the election, a claim Washington called "baseless".
Earlier this month, 33 million people did not cast a vote.
