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Lula's advantage over Bolsonaro unchanged for October election
The survey by IPEC, formerly known as IBOPE, showed Lula with 44 percent of voter support against 32 percent for Bolsonaro in the first round of the election schedule for Oct. 2, the same percentage of a poll from two weeks ago.
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Brazilian presidential candidates (left to right) Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT), Simone Tebet (MDB), Jair Bolsonaro (PL) take part in the presidential debate ahead of the October 2 general election at Bandeirantes television network in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on August 28, 2022. Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro faces his biggest rival for the presidency, popular leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, after days of uncertainty over whether they would participate. The debate is the first in the campaign calendar and organizers have also invited four other candidates, including former finance minister Ciro Gomes and Senator Simone Tebet.
(AFP/MIGUEL SCHINCARIOL )
B
razil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva maintains a 12-percentage-point lead over far-right incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro ahead of the October election, according to a new poll published on Monday.
The survey by IPEC, formerly known as IBOPE, showed Lula with 44 percent of voter support against 32 percent for Bolsonaro in the first round of the election schedule for Oct. 2, the same percentage of a poll from two weeks ago.
In an expected second round run-off, Lula's lead shrank to 13 percentage points, from 16 two weeks ago. The former leftist president had 50 percent of voter support, while Bolsonaro's increased to 37 percent.
It was IPEC's second national poll of voter intentions and was based on interviews of 2,000 people in person between Aug. 26-28. The poll has a margin of error of 2 percentage points up or down.
Sparks flew on Sunday as far-right accused leftist Lula of massive corruption -- and drew accusations of "destroying Brazil" in return -- as they faced off in their first election debate.
The two front-runners, who waited until the last minute to confirm they would attend the first televised debate ahead of October's elections, wasted no time in attacking each other in Sao Paulo.
Bolsonaro called Lula a "thief" in his opening salvo, pummeling the 76-year-old ex-president over the massive "Car Wash" corruption scandal centered on state-run oil giant Petrobras.
The investigation landed Lula in prison from 2018 to 2019 on controversial corruption charges -- annulled by the Supreme Court last year.
"Your government was the most corrupt in Brazilian history," said Bolsonaro, 67, rattling off figures from the Petrobras scandal in a rapid-fire attack.
"It was a kleptocracy, a government based on robbery.... What do you want to come back to power for? To do the same thing to Petrobras again?"
Lula fired back that Bolsonaro was spreading "untruths" -- one of several exchanges in which they accused each other of lying -- and in turn accused the incumbent of trashing the legacy of economic growth and anti-poverty initiatives that Lula left as president.
"This country has been destroyed," he said in his trademark gravelly voice.
