Brazil: Flavio Bolsonaro far ahead of Lula according to initial partial results

Conservative Senator Flavio Bolsonaro has a wide lead over incumbent left-wing President Lula as more than a third of the ballots were counted on Sunday after the first round of the Brazilian presidential election.

The son of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022) currently has nearly 51% of the votes in this partial count, compared to some 41% for Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

US President Donald Trump said he was following the Brazilian election "very closely," after seeing allies come to power in Argentina, Colombia, and Peru.

At nearly 81 years old, Lula, who is seeking a fourth and final non-consecutive term, called on his American counterpart during the campaign not to "interfere" in the Brazilian elections.

Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, 45, was nominated as a candidate by his father when the latter was sentenced to 27 years in prison for an attempted coup against Lula in 2022.

Among the approximately 160 million voters, many expressed weariness with such a familiar lineup, and said they would choose the candidate they disliked the least.

"I always voted for Lula but, once I got to the polling station, I changed my mind to Bolsonaro. Just to try and see what happens," Oscarina de Oliveira, 62, a home care worker in Rio de Janeiro, told AFP.

"The people will have to choose between strengthening the democratic regime and barbarism," the outgoing president declared after voting in the state of Sao Paulo (southeast).

Upon leaving his polling station in Rio, Bolsonaro's son promised to "liberate the Brazilian people".

"Brazil needs change, Brazil can no longer endure so much suffering, so many high taxes, so many women killed, so much political persecution," he stated.

- Concerns and disappointments -

The two frontrunners had said they believed they could win as early as Sunday, even though polls in recent days showed them still quite far from 50%. A potential second round would take place on October 25.

Donald Trump did not endorse Flavio Bolsonaro, but his influence was felt throughout the campaign. He has imposed tariffs and sanctions against Brazil since the 2025 trial of his ally Jair Bolsonaro.

"I am very worried about the direction the country is taking, because I want to be independent, I don't want to be anyone's colony," explains Maria de Nazaré Azevedo, a 57-year-old civil servant living in Rio. She voted for the left.

"We are voting for Flavio Bolsonaro so as not to vote for the PT. This party has already spent twenty years in government and has done nothing, really nothing," said Raphael Machado, a 45-year-old lawyer, in Brasilia.

Having returned to power in 2023, the outgoing head of state is recognized for his social programs, which lifted millions of people out of poverty in the 2000s.

But voters complain about the cost of living and rampant crime.

His opponent promised a hard line against crime and budget austerity.

- "Defending nature" -

Bolsonaro's son did not lose his footing after the revelation that he was the target of an investigation for corruption and money laundering over the financing of a film glorifying his father.

The right wing is quick to point out that Lula spent more than 18 months in prison in 2018-2019 for corruption, before his conviction was overturned on procedural grounds.

In his record, the veteran leftist points to a drastic decrease in deforestation in the Amazon, which had skyrocketed under Bolsonaro's presidency. But the issue was conspicuously absent during a campaign marked more by controversy than by concrete plans.

"We, indigenous peoples, suffer greatly from environmental impacts. So it is important to choose a candidate who defends our territory, who defends nature," said Tainara da Costa Cruz, 22.

A member of the Kambeba ethnic group, she lives on the banks of the Rio Negro, near the Amazonian metropolis of Manaus, and voted for Lula.