Brazil Elections: Former President Lula da Silva Leads Over Jair Bolsonaro - Poll Reveals

Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva may have won the presidential race, if the Brazil elections were held today, according to a poll.

Al Jazeera reported that a poll from FSB Pesquisa, which was commissioned by investment bank BTG Pactual, found that Lula da Silva would win the first-round vote by 43 percent to 23 percent.

Furthermore, the former president's 14-point lead widened to 19 percentage points against the two main presidential contenders.

It was not the first time da Silva lead the polls on Brazil elections this year.

According to Reuters, the former president also topped a poll from MDA Pesquisa that is sponsored by the National Transportation Confederation (CNT) in February.

During that time, 42 percent of the respondents showed support for Lula da Silva while 28 percent were in favor of President Jair Bolsonaro.

Lula da Silva has not yet officially declared his candidacy. However, Al Jazeera pointed out that the former president invited the former governor of Sao Paolo state, Geraldo Alckmin, to be his running mate.

Lula da Silva served Brazil as its president from 2003 to 2010.

Pres. Jair Bolsonaro to Launch Reelection Campaign; Drops Clues of His Running Mate

The result of the recent polls on Monday came ahead of President Jair Bolsonaro's launching of his reelection campaign. Al Jazeera mentioned that the current president is expected to do this on Sunday, focusing on the corruption issues that occurred during da Silva's term.

On Monday, Bolsonaro also dropped some clues on who will be his running mate this upcoming presidential election in October.

According to The Brazilian Report, Bolsonaro said that his vice presidential nominee was born in Belo Horizonte and came from a military school. The outlet noted that these descriptions matched Defense Minister Walter Braga Netto.

Reports also mentioned that Braga Netto was Bolsonaro's top choice, given the fact the president of Brazil believes that having a man from military by his side would be a "hedge" against betrayal.

Defense Minister Walter Braga Netto is known to be one of Bolsonaro's closest advisors, The Brazilian Report mentioned.

Braga Netto served as chief of staff from February 2020 to March last year. He was also known to help Jair Bolsonaro in his attacks on Brazil's voting system.

Brazil Court Revokes Ban on Telegram

The polls also came a day after Brazil's supreme court walked back on its ban on Telegram, a messaging app utilized by Pres. Jair Bolsonaro in communicating with Brazilians, per The Verge.

The outlet noted that the move from the Supreme Court of Brazil was done after Telegram made several changes to help keep misinformation at bay in the country.

According to reports, the changes the messaging app mentioned include removing classified information shared by Bolsonaro as well as deleting accounts of Allan dos Santos, an ally of the president accused of promulgating disinformation.

"Considering that the [court's requested changes] were fully attended to, I revoke the decision to fully and completely suspend the operation of Telegram in Brazil," Judge Alexandre de Moraes said in a statement.

It can be recalled that Pres. Jair Bolsonaro and his allies had encouraged Brazilians to join Telegram since January last year.

In his Telegram page, Bolsonaro reportedly expressed doubts on the integrity of this year's elections, claiming that he might not accept the result of the voting if the electronic system is not changed to the one that can be recounted.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

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