The popularity of imprisoned former Brazilian president Lula da Silva has grown strongly despite his corruption conviction, an election poll on Wednesday showed, a result that rattled markets and raised the possibility that Lula’s running mate could ultimately become the next occupant of the country’s presidential palace.
Jailed former president Lula da Silva has increased his support by five percentage points and would win Brazil's October presidential election if he was allowed to run, a poll by CNT/MDA showed on Monday. The survey, which was last taken in May, found that almost half of the leftist leader's supporters would transfer their votes to his running mate Fernando Haddad if Lula is disqualified from Brazil's most uncertain race in decades.
Brazil is staging its first presidential election debate with eight of the crowded field locking horns but also one notable absentee – jailed frontrunner ex president Lula da Silva. Thirteen candidates have officially entered the election, which starts with a first round October 7 and is almost sure to go to a run-off two weeks later.
Brazil's ex president and currently jailed for corruption, Lula da Silva is expected to secure his Workers Party's nomination this Saturday and continue to overshadow more likely candidates in the country's most unpredictable presidential election for decades.
An XP Investimentos survey in partnership with the Institute of Social, Political and Economic Research (Ipespe) shows the Brazilian pre-candidates Lula da Silva and Jair Bolsonaro, tied for first place with 13% of voting intentions each, followed by Ciro Gomes and Geraldo Alckmin, with 2% each.
Far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro is the clear frontrunner in Brazil’s election in October with up to 25% of voter support, followed by center-left populist Ciro Gomes with 12%, a new poll revealed on Tuesday.
Brazilian voters are abandoning jailed former President Lula da Silva as his chances of running in October fade, but they are not transferring their support en masse to other leftist candidates, a Datafolha poll showed on Sunday. Without Lula in the running, support for far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro has slipped and is now virtually tied with environmentalist Marina Silva in a presidential race thrown wide open, the survey said.
Incumbent president Michel Temer and candidates for this year's elections Henrique Meirelles (PSD), Manuela d'Avila (PCdoB), Marina Silva (Rede), Guilherme Boulos (PSOL) and Geraldo Alckmin (PSDB) Wednesday condemned the attack against the caravan of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT) in the south of the country.
Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva is a step closer to prison. A panel of judges on Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice on Tuesday rejected Lula da Silva’s request for an injunction that would prevent him from being imprisoned as he appeals a corruption conviction.
Former Brazilian senator and environmental minister Marina Silva said on Sunday that she would seek her party’s nomination to run for president next year. Silva announced her plans at a meeting of her Sustainability Network Party, or REDE, which would officially nominate her at its national convention in April.