United States President Donald Trump appears set to gain a soulmate and admirer after Mr Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right, hitherto-fringe politician who models himself on the US leader, won 46 per cent of the ballots in the first round of voting in Brazil's presidential election on Sunday.

And Mr Bolsonaro seems likely to win the presidency when the second round is held on Oct 28.

His tally, far bigger than initially expected, represents an astonishing rebuke to Brazil's existing politicians and a warning for the rest of Latin America of what happens when voters lose faith in an entire political class.

Brazil, Latin America's biggest economy, is struggling with the worst recession in the country's two centuries of history, with 13 million people currently out of work.

It also suffers from a massive crime wave fuelled by poverty, the drugs trade and organised criminal gangs; a record 63,800 murders were reported last year.

But the biggest problem is a catastrophic collapse in governance as the result of a massive corruption scandal involving Petrobras, Brazil's huge majority-state-owned oil company, and kickbacks to prominent members of the ruling centre-left Workers' Party.

Ms Dilma Rousseff, elected as Brazil's first female president in 2010, was impeached and driven out of power in August 2016 as a result of this scandal; Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, her predecessor and the man who presided over Brazil's transformation into a thriving economy during the previous decade, is now in jail.

According to the Brazilian Institute of Public Opinion and Statistics, 87 per cent of voters distrust all politicians.
• Percentage of voters in Brazil who distrust all politicians, according to the Brazilian Institute of Public Opinion and Statistics.

Although Mr Fernando Haddad, the 53-year-old Workers' Party presidential candidate in Sunday's election, served as mayor of Rio de Janeiro and is respected, he paid the price for his party's scandals and proved no match for Mr Bolsonaro.

Mr Haddad polled 29 per cent of the ballots, or 31 million votes, while Mr Bolsonaro got 49 million votes, or 46 per cent of the total cast in this 210 million-strong nation.

A charismatic former paratrooper, Mr Bolsonaro, 63, has succeeded in using his fringe status to portray himself as the only candidate untainted by corruption and has endeared himself by offering apparently simple solutions to Brazil's ills.

He promises to "change the destiny of Brazil" by shoving aside an entire generation of Workers' Party officials. And he hints at the possibility of extrajudicial killings in order to stop criminal gangs.

"There are certain types of people who aren't humans," he told an electoral rally, implying that such people can just be liquidated.

Mr Bolsonaro has often been dismissive of women, claiming they should not receive equal pay since "they tend to get pregnant".

He also praised the military dictatorship which ruled Brazil from the 1960s to the 1980s, and has attracted strong support from the armed forces and the Church.

His stabbing last month by a far-left activist who claimed to be on "a mission from God" only increased his popularity. After losing almost 40 per cent of his blood in the assassination attempt, he made no further public appearances but, like Mr Trump, proved adept at using social media platforms to address his growing electoral base.

In his first reaction to Sunday's electoral results, delivered on Facebook Live rather than at an anticipated press conference, he claimed that he would have won the first round vote outright were it not for the electronic voting system. "We have received many complaints of (electronic) voting systems that have had problems," he said.

Still, he proclaimed himself confident of total victory on Oct 28, claiming that Brazil faces only two futures: his path of "prosperity, freedom, family and God" or "the path of Venezuela", a country now bankrupted by a Marxist regime.

In theory, Mr Haddad, the centre-left candidate who also qualified for the second round of voting, can still defeat Mr Bolsonaro by attracting all the ballots which went to smaller centrist candidates in the first round. Yet, this will be a very tall order never achieved before in national politics.

Populist right-winger Bolsonaro claims inspiration from Mr Trump on everything from closing Brazil's borders to immigrants to slashing bureaucracy and liberating private enterprise from government controls. But he has no government experience, no record as a liberal economist and has offered nothing but slogans about how he will rule the country.

Still, many Brazilians seem unperturbed. For they see in Mr Bolsonaro the only way to put an end to a political system which evidently failed.</s>22:37

Could an alliance stop Bolsonaro?

Fernando Haddad, Bolsonaro’s opponent in the pivotal second-round vote on 28 October, has mountain to climb if he is to scupper the right-wing populist’s dramatic political ascent.



Bolsonaro secured more than 49 million votes on Sunday – 46% of the total and just shy of the majority he needed for an outright win – while Haddad’s Workers’ party (PT) won just 29%, or 31 million votes.

Just to draw level with Bolsonaro, Haddad would need virtually every single one of the voters who opted for the third and fourth-placed candidates, Ciro Gomes and Geraldo Alckmin, to switch to his side. Those hoping Haddad can still win out, believe he must now position himself as a centrist champion of democracy who can prevent Brazil from lurching back towards the kind of murderous, authoritarian rule Bolsonaro has so often said he admires.

Heloísa Starling, a Brazilian historian, said she believed Haddad now needed to piece together “a great democratic coalition” if Brazil was to avoid being hurtled back towards “tyranny”.

“It can’t just be a left-wing coalition - it must include everyone who is prepared to defend democracy, whoever they may be,” Starling said.

Ciro Gomes, who came third with 12.5% of the vote and potentially has the most support to transfer to Haddad, said it was too earlier to say what he would do. But he ruled out support for Bolsonaro – “Not him, definitely!”

Winter, however, said he was doubtful that such an alliance would be enough: “Haddad is going to tack to the centre – a bit – he’s going to make an appeal for democracy,” Winter predicted. “But it’s not clear there is anybody left in the centre and democracy has become a bad word in Brazil. It’s a synonym for weakness and chaos and leniency with criminals and I just think those appeals for democracy are going to fall on mostly deaf ears.”</s>BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil’s presidential election will be decided in a run-off between right-winger Jair Bolsonaro and leftist Fernando Haddad, the president of the country’s top electoral court said on Sunday.

Bolsonaro obtained 46.7 percent of the votes in Sunday’s first-round vote, and Haddad got 28.37 percent. The run-off between the two top vote-getters is required when no candidate wins a majority. The vote will be held on Oct. 28.</s>Brazil presidential candidates have failed to avoid runoff, IBOPE exit polls revealed with Jair Bolsonaro and Fernando Haddad reaching the vote.

Jair Bolsonaro, a candidate for Brazil’s presidency came on top in Sunday’s vote and will face off with his rival Fernando Haddad in the runoff, exit polls and preliminary official results show.

With 53.93 percent of ballots counted, Bolsonaro was leading in the race with 49.02 percent of the vote. Fernando Haddad of the Workers’ Party was second with 26.09 percent, the electoral committee said.

After 86 percent of ballots counted Bolsonaro remained in the lead with 47.6 percent of the vote Haddad, of the Workers’ Party, fell behind with 27.24 percent of the vote.An exit poll by Ibope suggested Bolsonaro would come first with 45 percent of the vote, followed by Haddad with 28 percent. A candidate needs more than 50 percent of votes to avoid a runoff on October 28.

Previously, the data of the Datafolha pollster revealed that Brazilian presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro extended his lead over rivals as potential support for him in the election had increased from 32 percent to 35 percent since the beginning of the week.

Candidate Fernando Haddad was expected to be supported by 22 percent of the voters. The poll was held on Wednesday and Thursday among more than 10,000 people in 389 Brazilian municipalities.

READ MORE: Brazil’s Presidential Front-Runner Says Can’t Partake in Debates After Stabbing

The first round of the Brazilian presidential vote was scheduled to take place alongside the parliamentary election on Sunday. The second round is set to be held on October 28.</s>BRASILIA (Reuters) - Far-right Congressman and former Army captain Jair Bolsonaro won nearly half the votes in Brazil's first-round presidential election on Sunday, marking a major shift to the right in Latin America's largest nation fueled by voters' anger at corruption.

In what is likely to be a deeply polarizing race, Bolsonaro, who has praised Brazil's 1964-1985 military dictatorship, will face leftist Fernando Haddad, the former mayor of Sao Paulo, in a second round of voting on Oct. 28.

Bolsonaro won 46.3 percent of valid ballots, far ahead of Haddad's 29 percent but short of the outright majority needed to avoid an runoff, electoral authorities said.

Bolsonaro, 63, had surged in recent opinion polls on a wave of antipathy towards Haddad's Workers Party, whose leader is serving 12 years in prison after a corruption conviction.

Bolsonaro, who has vowed a brutal crackdown on crime and graft, gained momentum after a near-fatal stabbing at a rally one month ago that kept him from campaigning.

Presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro at a campaign rally, moments before being stabbed. Antonio Scorza/Agencia O Globo via AP

Some pundits have dubbed Bolsonaro a "Tropical Trump" because of his large social media following, pugnacious demeanor and multiple wives. He faces federal hate crime charges for racist and misogynist rants.

His commanding lead heading into the second round marks another advance by populist, anti-establishment leaders, who have won power in eastern Europe, the United States and the Philippines.

In his first public remarks celebrating his lead in the vote, Bolsonaro pledged to slash the size of the state, reduce the cabinet to 15 ministries, cut payroll taxes and privatize or shut many state companies.

In video streamed live over social media with economic advisor Paulo Guedes sitting by his side, Bolsonaro said he would have clinched the race with a majority of votes on Sunday if it were not for faulty voting machines. He provided no details.

Bolsonaro's surge in opinion polls prompted a rally in recent days in Brazil's currency and stock market. Many investors want to avoid a return of the leftist Workers Party after the end of its 2003-2016 rule saw the world's eighth-largest economy fall into its worst recession in decades.

Supporters rallying outside his Rio de Janeiro home waved the green-and-yellow national flag, chanting "Our president!" when he returned from voting, accompanied by a nurse, in a convoy of black SUVs.

"Bolsonaro is an example of honesty. Our country needs someone to take tough measures," said civil servant Orlando Senna, who said his uncle served in the army with Bolsonaro.

Senna said he was worried that Bolsonaro's presidential rivals would gang up on him and back Haddad in the runoff.

In Sao Paulo, supporters celebrated on a main avenue with a giant inflatable doll in military uniform depicting Bolsonaro's running mate, retired general Hamilton Mourão.

In the most polarized election since the end of military rule in 1985, Bolsonaro is backed by a group of retired officers like Mourão who have criticized Workers Party governments and publicly advocate military intervention if corruption continues.</s>Far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro won the first round of Brazil’s presidential elections on Sunday, Reuters reported. Bolsonaro, who received 46% of votes, will face leftist candidate Fernando Haddad in the second round on October 28.

Haddad secured 29% of votes in the first round. A candidate needs 50% or more to win the elections outright.

Meanwhile, Bolsonaro’s supporters protested outside the national electoral tribunal in Brasilia, claiming fraud in the polls, AFP reported. In his victory speech, Bolsonaro, the candidate of Social Liberal Party, told citizens to take the “path of prosperity, liberty, family on God’s side”. He also echoed Trump when he called on his social media followers to “make Brazil great”. “Let us be proud of our homeland once again,” The Guardian quoted him as saying.

The 63-year-old is a former Army captain whose divisive comments have drawn the ire of liberals and increased his support among right-wing voters. In September, Bolsonaro was stabbed during a rally in Minas Gerais by a man who appeared to be “mentally ill”.

He is scheduled to face trial in the Supreme Court for allegedly inciting hate and rape. Bolsonaro has promised to encourage police to kill suspected drug gang members and other armed criminals with abandon if elected to power and has gone on record to praise Brazil’s history of military dictatorship.</s>SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil’s Workers Party (PT) presidential candidate Fernando Haddad said on Monday that the runoff race for the country’s top office would pit his party’s history of strong social programs against the neoliberal economic model pushed by far-right rival Jair Bolsonaro.

Haddad made the comments during a news conference streamed on his Facebook page, during which he also said he would seek to rally all “democratic forces” around his campaign to beat Bolsonaro, a former army captain who has long praised the country’s past dictatorship. Bolsonaro won 46 percent of the vote in Sunday’s first-round ballot, while Haddad took 29 percent.</s>SAO PAULO/BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil’s presidential election will go to a second-round runoff between right-wing Congressman Jair Bolsonaro and leftist rival Fernando Haddad, pollster Datafolha projected, based on an analysis of initial results from Sunday’s vote.

With 87 percent of voters counted, Bolsonaro has won 47 percent of valid ballots, far more than Haddad’s 28 percent but not enough to clinch the race with a majority of first-round votes, according to Datafolha.</s>Jair Bolsonaro, the right-wing Brazilian Congressman, is headed toward a second-round runoff against leftist former Sao Paulo mayor Fernando Haddad, according to early results in Sunday's presidential election.

With 79 percent of votes counted, Mr Bolsonaro had received 48 percent of valid votes, far ahead of Mr Haddad's 27 percent but short of the outright majority needed to avoid an October 28 runoff.

Much of the support for Mr Haddad, the stand-in for jailed ex-President Luiz Inacio da Silva, is concentrated in northeast Brazil, which is often slower to report electoral results.

Many analysts thought Mr Bolsonaro would win the first round of voting but face a runoff between the two top vote-getters which he would he lose. A first round win was considered a long shot at best in a country where big parties and the public campaign financing and free ad time they command hold sway.

But little in this election has gone to plan, and Mr Bolsonaro's strong showing reflects a yearning for the past as much as a sign of the future. The candidate from the tiny Social and Liberal Party made savvy use of Twitter and Facebook to spread his message that only he could end the corruption, crime and economic malaise that has seized Brazil in recent years.</s>SAO PAULO (AP) — A far-right former army captain who expresses nostalgia for Brazil’s military dictatorship won its presidential election by a surprisingly large margin Sunday but fell just short of getting enough votes to…

SAO PAULO (AP) — A far-right former army captain who expresses nostalgia for Brazil’s military dictatorship won its presidential election by a surprisingly large margin Sunday but fell just short of getting enough votes to avoid a second-round runoff against a leftist rival.

Jair Bolsonaro, whose last-minute surge almost gave him an electoral stunner, had 46.7 percent compared to 28.5 percent for former Sao Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad, Brazil’s Superior Electoral Tribunal said after all the votes were counted. He needed over 50 percent support to win outright.

Polls predicted Bolsonaro would come out in front on Sunday, but he far outperformed expectations, blazing past competitors with more financing, institutional backing of parties and free air time on television.

Ultimately, Bolsonaro’s strong showing reflects a yearning for the past as much as a sign of the future. The candidate from the tiny Social and Liberal Party made savvy use of Twitter and Facebook to spread his message that only he could end the corruption, crime and economic malaise that has seized Brazil in recent years — and bring back the good ol’ days and traditional values.

“I voted against thievery and corruption,” said Mariana Prado, a 54-year-old human resources expert. “I know that everyone promises to end these two things, but I feel Bolsonaro is the only one can help end my anxieties.”

The two candidates have painted starkly different visions of the country’s past and future.

Bolsonaro has portrayed a nation in collapse, where drug traffickers and politicians steal with equal impunity, and moral rot has set in. He has advocated loosening gun ownership laws so individuals can fight off criminals, giving police a freer hand to use force and restoring “traditional” Brazilian values — though some take issue with his definition of those values in light of his approving allusions to dictatorship era torturers and his derisive comments about women, blacks and gay people.

He capitalized on Brazilians’ deep anger with their traditional political class and “throw the bums out” rage after a massive corruption investigation revealed staggering levels of graft.

Beginning in 2014, prosecutors alleged that Brazil’s government was run like a cartel for years, with billions of dollars in public contracts handed out in exchange for kickbacks and bribes.

Revelations of suitcases of cash, leaked recordings of incriminating exchanges between powerbrokers and the jailing of some of the of the country’s most powerful people, including da Silva, unfolded like a Hollywood script — and then became one: Netflix released a (barely) fictionalized account of the probe this year.

The Workers’ Party was at the center of that investigation, and it has struggled to stage a comeback with Haddad, who has portrayed a country hijacked by an elite that will protect its privileges at all costs and can’t bear to see the lives of poor and working class Brazilians improve.

Haddad has promised to roll back President Michel Temer’s economic reforms that he says eroded workers’ rights, increase investment in social programs and bring back the boom years Brazil experienced under his mentor, da Silva.

Though they come from opposite sides of the political spectrum, both Bolsonaro and Haddad ran campaigns based on nostalgia for a better time. Bolsonaro frequently evoked the country’s 1964-1985 military dictatorship amid promises of a return to traditional values and safer, simpler times. In one of his last appeals to voters before Sunday’s voting, Bolsonaro tweeted that he would “defend the family and the innocence of children, treat criminals as such and not get involved in corruption schemes.”

The Workers’ Party, meanwhile, pushed the narrative that a vote for Haddad would be a vote to bring back the boom years that Brazil experienced under the leadership of da Silva, his mentor. On the eve of the election, da Silva tweeted: “Reach back into your memory, remember what my eight years of government were like.”

Bolsonaro’s poll numbers have increased by about 15 percent since he was stabbed Sept. 6. He was unable to campaign or participate in debates as he underwent surgeries during a three-week hospital stay, but instead brought messages directly to voters via Facebook and Twitter.

“For a front-runner, the best thing to do is commit as few errors as possible,” said Andre Portela from Getulio Vargas Foundation, a leading university and think tank. “Getting stabbed helped Bolsonaro in that. He wasn’t exposed to debate, to people questioning him.”

The campaign to run Latin America’s largest economy, which is a major trade partner for countries in the region and a diplomatic heavyweight, has been unpredictable and tense. Da Silva led initial polls by a wide margin, but was banned from running after a corruption conviction. Bolsonaro’s stabbing forced candidates, and Bolsonaro himself, to shift strategies and recalibrate.

All along, Brazilians have said their faith in leaders and their hopes for the future are waning.

This election was once seen as the great hope for ending a turbulent era in which many politicians and business executives were jailed on corruption charges, a president was impeached and removed from office in controversial proceedings, and the region’s largest economy suffered a protracted recession.

Instead, the two front-runners merely reflect the rabid divisions that have opened up in Brazilian politics following former President Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment and the revelations emerging from the “Car Wash” graft probe.

Caught in the middle are Brazilians who dislike both candidates and see them as symbols of a broken system.

“I think we’re going to continue with the same polarization,” if either Haddad or Bolsonaro wins, said Victor Aversa, a 27-year-old massage therapist who voted for center-left candidate Ciro Gomes, who had been polling third. “We’ve been on this path of crazy bipolarity. Haddad and Bolsonaro will both lead populist governments.”

Prengaman reported from Rio de Janeiro. Associated Press writers Stan Lehman in Sao Paulo and Beatrice Christofaro in Rio de Janeiro contributed to this report.

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Far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro falls short of a majority in the first round with 46% of the vote and will face Fernando Haddad, who received 29%, in a runoff vote set for October 28.