Bolsonaro and Lula headed to runoff after tight Brazil election

Rio De Janeiro: Jair Bolsonaro considerably outperformed expectations in Brazil's presidential election, proving that the far-right wave he rode to the presidency remains a force.

Multiple polls had indicated leftist former President Luiz In cio Lula da Silva was far out front, with some suggesting he could even clinch a first-round victory on Sunday and showing margins that neared or exceeded double digits. But Bolsonaro came within just five points of da Silva, who he will face in a high-stakes runoff on Oct. 30.

Da Silva came close to an outright majority with 48.4% of the vote to Bolsonaro's 43.2%, according to Brazil's electoral authority. Nine other candidates split the rest.

There are still lots of questions about Bolsonaro's vote, there is a lot of discussion about an embarrassed vote for Bolsonaro among people who said they were going to vote for a third-way candidate ... but that in itself doesn't explain everything, said Arilton Freres, director of Curitiba-based Instituto Opini o, adding outdated census data also may have had an impact on the design of the polls.

Lula starts ahead, but it won't be easy for him, he said.

The vote was virtually free from the political violence that many had feared. Alexandre de Moraes, the Supreme Court justice who also leads the electoral authority, congratulated Brazil for the safe, calm, harmonious and peaceful election that demonstrated its democratic maturity.

Yet tensions remain high, as are the stakes. The election will determine whether the country returns a leftist to the helm of the world's fourth-largest democracy or keeps Bolsonaro in office for another term.

The past four years have been marked by his incendiary speech, testing of democratic institutions, widely criticized handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the worst deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in 15 years. But he has built a devoted base by defending conservative values and presenting himself as protecting the nation from leftist policies that he says infringe on personal liberties and produce economic turmoil.

I understand there is a desire from the population for change, but some changes can be for the worse, Bolsonaro told reporters after the results were released. Bolsonaro has repeatedly claimed without citing evidence that the nation's electronic voting machines are vulnerable to fraud, but didn't challenge the result.