More than one million Lula supporters rally on eve of Brazilian election runoff

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was cheered by a huge crowd on Copacabana beach on Saturday amid hopes he can secure an historic fourth term. Photograph: Agustín Marcarian/ReutersView image in fullscreenLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva was cheered by a huge crowd on Copacabana beach on Saturday amid hopes he can secure an historic fourth term. Photograph: Agustín Marcarian/ReutersMore than one million Lula supporters rally on eve of Brazilian election runoffNearly 159 million people to head to polls on Sunday in battle between leftwing incumbent and Flávio Bolsonaro

More than one million supporters of Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, have streamed on to Rio’s most famous beach for a giant protest they hope will propel him towards a historic election fightback against his far-right rival, Flávio Bolsonaro.

Nearly 159m Brazilians will vote in the election’s runoff on Sunday, with the pair tied in the polls after Bolsonaro won the first round on 4 October by 47% to 45%.

On Saturday, under a fierce sun, red-clad crowds packed the 2.5-mile Copacabana beach in an attempt to help Lula clinch a dramatic and unprecedented comeback. Never since the return of democracy to Brazil in the 1980s has the first-round loser managed to bounce back.

Josias Silva, a 61-year-old truck driver, voiced confidence that his 80-year-old president, who was first elected in 2002, would win a fourth non-consecutive term. He carried a homemade sign to the carnival-like procession reading: “Lula re-elected. Tomorrow will be a new day.”

View image in fullscreenLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva waves to supporters on Saturday. Photograph: Dhavid Normando/AP“The people have woken up,” Silva said of the large pro-Lula street protests that have swept Brazil since the leftist’s first-round defeat, many led by students.

“Young people know we need this victory because otherwise we will have dictatorship again – and we don’t want dictatorship. We don’t want hatred. We don’t want guns. We want a country of love,” added Silva, celebrating the large number of people who came to witness one of the final presidential campaign rallies in Lula’s storied 50-year political career.

“There’s never been a demonstration like this one. This is the biggest protest in the history of Brazil. And we are going to win tomorrow with more than 60% of the votes,” Silva claimed.

Polls suggest a far tighter margin and most analysts see Bolsonaro, whose father, Jair Bolsonaro, was president from 2019 to 2022, as the slight favourite, having sold himself to voters as someone who will tackle chronic levels of violent crime with an iron fist.

However, in recent days Lula has appeared to regain the initiative and climb in the polls, amid a succession of scandals involving his rightwing foe. Last week the Brazilian magazine Piauí claimed that at the height of Brazil’s 2020 coronavirus outbreak, Flávio Bolsonaro attended a boat party attended by sex workers and vaccine lobbyists hoping to strike a deal with the government of his father.

View image in fullscreenPeople watch a televised debate between Flávio Bolsonaro and his election rival on Friday. Photograph: Adriano Machado/ReutersSome experts speculate a Lula comeback may be possible. At the Copacabana rally – which Rio’s City Hall said attracted about 1.1 million people – activists unfurled an enormous yellow and green banner declaring: “WE ARE GOING TO TURN THIS AROUND!”

On Saturday afternoon, Lula attended an even larger rally on Paulista Avenue, in the heart of Brazil’s biggest city, São Paulo.

“I’m super excited. Lula’s going to win,” said Marta Moraes, a 59-year-old restaurateur, as she joined Saturday’s demo in Rio.

Moraes said the election was not about left versus right. “We’ve nothing against the right … what we’re against is Bolsonarismo,” she said, tears filling her eyes as she recalled how Flávio Bolsonaro’s father botched the response to Covid during his chaotic 2019-2022 administration.

“I lost four members of my family because of Bolsonaro’s neglect,” Moraes said.