Far-right candidate wins first round in Brazil

International Desk: The far-right candidate, Jair Bolsonaro, has won the first round of Brazil's presidential election.

He will face the left-wing Workers' Party candidate, Fernando Haddad, in the second round on 28 October after he failed to win the 50% of valid votes needed to win outright.

With almost all the votes counted, Mr Bolsonaro had 46% and Mr Haddad 29%.

Opinion polls conducted before the election predicted that in a second round the two candidates would be tied.

Mr Bolsonaro said that he was certain that if there had not been "problems" with the electronic voting system used in Brazil, he would have won outright.

"I am certain that if this hadn't happened, we would have known the name of the president of the republic tonight."

He did not specify what he thought those "problems" were.

Brazil's electoral authorities have said the vote went ahead peacefully and without any major problems.

Jair Bolsonaro expected to win the presidency in this first round, even if the polls said otherwise. "On the 28th October, we can all go to the beach," he said, as he turned up to vote on Sunday. His supporters had been saying for weeks that their candidate would win this straight out.

Mr Bolsonaro may have soared in the polls recently but Brazilians are going to have to wait another three weeks to find out whether it'll be him or Fernando Haddad as Brazil's new leader.

Brazil feels very divided - and fragile. You could feel it when you talked to voters. So many people have told me they would be voting for the "least worst" candidate. On one side, there are those determined never to allow the Workers' Party to rule again; on the other, those desperately trying not to allow a far-right candidate to rule this young democracy.

There's a feeling of nervousness that's hanging over Brazil - and will do for the next few weeks as both candidates ramp up their campaigning once again. The future of Brazil will vary greatly, depending on who eventually wins.

Source: BBC



risingbd/Oct 8, 2018/Mukul