"RIO DE JANEIRO — For months, pollsters and analysts had said that President Jair Bolsonaro was doomed. He faced a wide and unwavering deficit in Brazil’s high-stakes presidential race, and in recent weeks, the polls suggested he could even lose in the first round, ending his presidency after just one term.
Instead, it was Mr. Bolsonaro who was celebrating. While the challenger, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a former leftist president, finished the night ahead, Mr. Bolsonaro far outperformed forecasts and sent the race to a runoff.
Mr. da Silva received 48.4 percent of the votes on Sunday, versus 43.23 percent for Mr. Bolsonaro, with 99.87 percent of the ballots counted. Mr. da Silva needed to exceed 50 percent to be elected president in this first round.
They will now face off on Oct. 30 in what is widely regarded as the most important vote in decades for Latin America’s largest nation."
The New York Times had the story October 2, 2022.
SEE ALSO:
"Brazil's Election Could Determine The Fate Of The Amazon After Record Deforestation" (NPR)
"Worst Brazil Forest Fires In A Decade, Yet Election Silence" (AP)