Brasilia: Far-right congressman Jair Bolsonaro who won the first round of Brazil’s presidential election held earlier this month, was poised to win the second round of polls slated to take place Sunday.
Brazilians Sunday will elect the country’s next President amid one of the most polarising and violent political campaigns in its history which comes as the country continue to suffer from prolonged recession, rising insecurity and a massive corruption scandal that rocked political and financial institutions, reports CNN.
Bolsonaro was leading in recent polls ahead of Fernando Haddad, a leftist former Sao Paulo mayor, with 56 per cent of voters likely to vote for Bolsonaro, while 44 per cent supported Haddad.
Bolsonaro, 63, won the first round of the elections held October 7 amid a field of 13 candidates.
But he fell short of the 50 per cent needed to win outright and avoid a runoff against Haddad, from the Workers’ Party.
Throughout the campaign, dozens of politically motivated acts of violence were registered by voters, journalist and politicians.
Bolsonaro was stabbed in the stomach last month during a rally in the city of Juiz de Fora, in Minas Gerais state.
Bolsonaro, who has been compared to US President Donald Trump and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, has stirred controversy by making misogynistic, racist and homophobic remarks, CNN said.
He once told a congresswoman that she did not deserve to be raped because she was “very ugly”, Brazil’s TV Globo reported.
He also said publicly he’d prefer to see his son “die in an accident” than a member of his family be homosexual.
Meanwhile, Haddad became the default Workers’ Party candidate after his running mate and former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was barred from participating in the polls by the country’s highest electoral court.
da Silva had been leading in the polls despite being in jail since April, where he is serving a 12-year sentence for corruption and money laundering. He has denied the charges.
IANS