What to know as Brazil prepares for tense presidential run-off

Brazil votes on Sunday, October 25, in a tense presidential run-off between incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, Al Jazeera reports. Bolsonaro outperformed expectations in the October 4 first round, beating Lula by less than two percentage points with 47 percent of the vote, even though Lula had been slightly favored in pre-election polls.

Lula, 80, is the Workers Party candidate seeking a fourth, non-consecutive term after his dramatic 2022 comeback. Al Jazeera notes his record includes sharp drops in unemployment and poverty and progress against Amazon deforestation, though a corruption scandal centered on banker Daniel Vorcaro has implicated figures across the political spectrum.

Flavio Bolsonaro, 45, runs for the right-wing Liberal Party as the de facto leader of Brazil's political right. He has pledged a militarized crackdown on crime and organized gangs and promised to rein in inflation and government spending, Al Jazeera reports.

The campaign's closing days have been combative: the candidates traded insults and corruption accusations in an October 18 debate, while pro-Lula demonstrations drew millions and Meta faces allegations of restricting pro-Lula activity online, according to Al Jazeera. Polls show the race tightening -- a Monday Nexus poll put Bolsonaro at 46.5 percent, an AtlasIntel/Bloomberg poll at 49.8 percent, and an October 21 Quaest poll showed his lead still shrinking.