Nearly 160 million Brazilians are choosing a president in a race shadowed by a jailed ex-leader, a banking scandal and a likely run-off on 25 October.
Voting is under way in Brazil's general election, and the two names leading the presidential race will sound familiar to anyone who followed the country's last contest.
President Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva, the 80-year-old veteran of the left-wing Workers' Party, is seeking another term. His main challenger among 11 rivals is Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, of the right-wing Liberal Party (PL) — the eldest son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, whom Lula narrowly beat in 2022.
The Ghana Report carried the details of the contest.
The man who is not on the ballot
Jair Bolsonaro, who governed from 2019 to 2023, cannot run. He is barred from office and is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 vote. Because of ill health he is under house arrest rather than in prison, and he is banned from posting on social media or speaking publicly.
Even so, his influence is everywhere. At his son's campaign launch, an AI-generated avatar of the former president endorsed the candidacy. When the Supreme Court asked about the deepfake, his lawyers said he had not approved its use.
The numbers
Almost 160 million Brazilians are eligible to vote. Voting is open from age 16 and compulsory for literate citizens aged 18 to 70, with a fine for those who stay away.
Only Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro have reached double digits in polling. BBC Brasil's poll tracker puts both around 40 percent, with Lula slightly ahead. The other candidates are on 4 percent or less.
If no one clears 50 percent of valid votes in the first round on 4 October, the top two go to a run-off on 25 October. A second round looks very likely, though about 9 percent of voters were undecided or planning to spoil, blank or skip their ballots at the end of September.
What each man offers
Lula has already served three terms as president. His first two, from 2003 to 2010, are remembered for the Bolsa Família cash-transfer programme that lifted millions out of poverty. He later spent more than 18 months in prison on corruption and money laundering convictions that were annulled in 2021. He points to deforestation in the Amazon falling to a decade low in the first half of 2026, though environmentalists criticise his support for exploratory oil drilling near the Amazon's mouth.
Flávio Bolsonaro promises to largely continue his father's agenda: tougher sentences, looser gun laws, fewer regulations for farmers, and closer ties with Washington. He has pledged to join the United States-led "Shield of the Americas" anti-crime alliance if elected.
The scandal reshaping the race
Crime topped voters' worries until a fraud case involving jailed banker Daniel Vorcaro pushed corruption to the front. Flávio Bolsonaro admitted asking Vorcaro to fund a film about his father, and police have opened an investigation into him. Alleged contacts between Vorcaro and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who tried Jair Bolsonaro, have also damaged Lula. Moraes denies wrongdoing.
