Far right man wins Brazil prez 1st round vote... but not outright

Rio De Janeiro: Polarising far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro easily won the first round of Brazil's presidential election on Sunday, but charged that "polling problems" cheated him of outright victory, forcing a run-off against a leftist rival in three weeks.

Bolsonaro, a 63-year-old former paratrooper vowing to crush crime in Latin America's biggest nation, received 46 percent of ballots -- below the 50-percent-plus-one-vote threshold required for a first-round win, according to an official count of virtually all votes.

That means he will have to duke it out on October 28 with left-wing candidate Fernando Haddad, who came in second at 29 percent.

Haddad, the former mayor of Sao Paulo who replaced jailed former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the contest, is seen as running neck-and-neck with Bolsonaro in the second round, surveys show.

Bolsonaro's supporters protested the results outside the national electoral tribunal in the capital Brasilia, chanting "Fraud!" Other Bolsonaro voters expressed their bitterness, even though the result was close to pollsters' predictions.

"We expected to win in the first round," 77-year-old retiree Lourdes Azevedo said in Rio de Janeiro.

"Now things are more difficult: the second round is a risk." Haddad, addressing his own supporters, called the looming run-off "a golden opportunity," and challenged Bolsonaro to a debate.

Despite his complaints, Bolsonaro did not formally contest Sunday's result, saying his voters "remain mobilized" for the second round. But he faces fierce resistance going forward from a big part of Brazil's 147-million-strong electorate, who are put off by his record of denigrating comments against women, gays and the poor.