Lula ahead in polls for Brazil’s first-round vote; runoff likely

SAO PAULO, Brazil – A series of polls on Saturday, October 3, showed Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva slightly ahead of Senator Flavio Bolsonaro before Sunday’s first-round vote, and a close race in a likely runoff between the leftist incumbent and his right-wing challenger. If no candidate wins more than 50% of valid votes – which exclude blank and null ballots – on Sunday, October 4, the two frontrunners advance to a second-round runoff on October 25.

CNT/MDA POLL First round (valid votes): Lula 47. 8%, Bolsonaro 42. 1%, Augusto Cury 3. 6%, Ronaldo Caiado 3. 4%, Renan Santos 1. 7%, Romeu Zema 0. 9% Runoff: Lula 47. 3%, Bolsonaro 43. 1% MDA surveyed 2,007 people from September 30 to October 2; margin of error of 2. 2 percentage points DATAFOLHA First round (valid votes): Lula 45%, Bolsonaro 42%, Caiado 4%, Santos 3%, Cury 3%, Zema 1% Runoff: Lula 47%, Bolsonaro 46% Datafolha surveyed 4,006 people from October 2-3; margin of error 2 percentage points QUAEST POLL First round (valid votes):…