Tens of thousands of supporters of Brazil's leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, gathered on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach on Saturday in a final push to secure a historic comeback in Sunday's election runoff against far-right rival Flávio Bolsonaro.
Nearly 159 million Brazilians are set to vote in the runoff, with the two candidates tied in the polls after Bolsonaro won the first round on 4 October by 47% to 45%. Under a fierce sun, red-clad crowds packed the 2.5-mile beach, hoping to help Lula achieve what no first-round loser has done since Brazil's return to democracy in the 1980s.
Supporters Confident of Victory
Josias Silva, a 61-year-old truck driver, expressed confidence that his 80-year-old president would win a fourth non-consecutive term. He carried a homemade sign reading: "Lula re-elected. Tomorrow will be a new day."
"The people have woken up," Silva said of the large pro-Lula street protests that have swept Brazil since the leftist's first-round defeat, many led by students. "Young people know we need this victory because otherwise we will have dictatorship again – and we don't want dictatorship. We don't want hatred. We don't want guns. We want a country of love," he added.
Silva claimed: "There's never been a demonstration like this one. This is the biggest protest in the history of Brazil. And we are going to win tomorrow with more than 60% of the votes."
Polls and Scandals
Polls suggest a far tighter margin, with most analysts seeing Bolsonaro, whose father, Jair Bolsonaro, was president from 2019 to 2022, as the slight favourite. However, Lula has appeared to regain the initiative in recent days amid a succession of scandals involving his rival. Last week, the Brazilian magazine Piauí claimed that at the height of Brazil's 2020 coronavirus outbreak, Flávio Bolsonaro attended a boat party with sex workers and vaccine lobbyists hoping to strike a deal with his father's government.
At the Copacabana rally, activists unfurled an enormous yellow and green banner declaring: "WE ARE GOING TO TURN THIS AROUND!" Marta Moraes, a 59-year-old restaurateur, said: "I'm super excited. Lula's going to win." She added that the election was not about left versus right: "We've nothing against the right … what we're against is Bolsonarismo," she said, tears filling her eyes as she recalled how Flávio Bolsonaro's father botched the response to Covid during his chaotic 2019-2022 administration. "I lost four members of my family because of Bolsonaro's neglect," Moraes said.
Fears for Democracy
Jair Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup after he lost the 2022 election to Lula. Many Brazilian democrats fear he could be released – and even return to government – if his son wins. Reports in the Brazilian press suggest several of Bolsonaro's fellow plotters, now in prison or hiding in exile, may be given top military and police jobs in a Bolsonaro administration.
Cammy Marinho, a 49-year-old DJ and activist, said: "I'm here to prevent democracy becoming extinct – which is what the Bolsonaro family wants." She said she had spent the past fortnight fighting to persuade people who voted for Bolsonaro, or did not vote in the first round, to back Lula. "It's non-stop work: in the bakery, in the supermarket, on the underground – whenever you feel there is an opening to talk to someone and show to them the reality, everything that Lula has done and is doing for the people and everything that this [Bolsonaro] family has done against the people," she said.
Many marchers were part of the so-called "Lula's Army" – a 10 million-member WhatsApp group created after the first round. Isabella Gaze, 64, a retired teacher and group member, said: "Being a soldier in Lula's army … means fighting for Brazilian democracy. This isn't a normal election." She added: "They constantly claim Lula is corrupt. But the truth is that they represent the most rotten and worst part of Brazilian politics. This is what we are fighting against now."
Among the crowd was 14-year-old Heitor Lopes da Silva, who had come from Duque de Caxias in his wheelchair with a placard reading: "Lula, I'm a person with a disability and I'm here to support you." He said: "My whole life I've believed Lula was a good president. [Bolsonaro] represents the destruction of Brazil …. he represents sadness and death."
Bolsonaro Supporters Counter-Rally
Large crowds of Bolsonaro supporters also hit the streets, including in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais state, which has Brazil's second-largest electorate after São Paulo and is a key bellwether. No presidential candidate has ever won the presidency without securing Minas Gerais, where Bolsonaro led by just under 5% in the first round.
Thousands of Bolsonaristas gathered in Praça da Liberdade, where AI-generated funk carioca tracks praising Bolsonaro boomed as supporters dressed in Brazil's yellow football jersey waved Brazilian and US flags. Marcos Antonio, a 56-year-old cosmetics entrepreneur, said: "The US is a great nation. Who wouldn't want to be aligned with them?" He added: "I don't want an alliance with Cuba or Venezuela. I want to move forward."
Antonio Carlos Costa Jr, the 59-year-old owner of a shooting club, complained: "Lula did nothing for the country." Jair Bolsonaro relaxed gun ownership and buying laws, which security experts agree ended up diverting many firearms to criminal gangs, whereas Lula tightened regulations once again. Costa Jr said: "Jair Bolsonaro simply gave citizens the right to defend themselves, and his son will do the same."
Lula supporters scoff at the idea that Bolsonaro, who has a history of well-documented ties with members of Rio's paramilitary "militia" groups, could rid Brazil of criminality. Erika Cavalcante, 43, an architect who came to the march with a sign reading "Don't let the mobsters win," said: "If we vote the militias into power, we will be living in a dictatorship."
