MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula targets non-voters and over-70s to overturn the first-round result

Since Brazil returned to direct presidential elections in 1989, no candidate who came second in the first round has won the runoff.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will focus his campaign for the October 25 runoff on mobilising those who did not vote on Sunday, particularly people over 70, and on winning over centrist voters, after finishing almost two points behind Senator Flávio Bolsonaro in the first round.

The challenge is historic. Since Brazil returned to direct presidential elections in 1989, no candidate who came second in the first round has won the runoff.

From the age of 70, voting is no longer compulsory in Brazil, and in 2022 abstention in that group was around 60%, according to figures cited by the newspaper El País. The last Datafolha poll before the vote gave Lula an 11-point lead among older voters. The president had already appealed to them in the final stretch: “Don't think that because you're 70 you shouldn't vote. Go, get up and vote.”

According to Reuters, Lula is also considering announcing that his vice president, Geraldo Alckmin, a centre-right figure, would be his finance minister in a new term, as a gesture to business. The Workers' Party is also hoping Congress will this week approve its proposal to cut working hours to guarantee two days off a week without a pay cut.

“The runoff is another election. It involves a direct clash of projects,” party president Edinho Silva told Globo, adding that Lula would attend “all the debates he can”. On election night, the president linked his rival to organised crime in Rio de Janeiro; Bolsonaro is under investigation in the Banco Master case, without formal charges, and there is no known case against him for organised crime.

Bolsonaro, of the Liberal Party, appeared in Brasília on Tuesday alongside São Paulo governor Tarcísio de Freitas, re-elected on Sunday, and is seeking the backing of his Republicanos party and other right-wing groups. The candidates eliminated in the first round won around 8% of the vote. The senator said he would attend the debates if Lula does: “I want to compare government programmes.” Neither took part in a debate in the first round. The first runoff debate is scheduled for Sunday 11.