Rio Beach Fills Up As Lula Tries To Turn Election Around
Massive crowds gathered in Rio de Janeiro to support the incumbent president in the final hours before a historic runoff vote.
By Sarah Montgomery ·
Tens of thousands of supporters descended on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach on Saturday to rally for Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The event marked the final public push before Sunday’s runoff election against far-right challenger Flávio Bolsonaro.
The atmosphere was festive, with crowds dressed in red moving through the 2.5-mile stretch of sand. Activists displayed a large banner declaring their intent to reverse the current momentum. While polls show the race is tight, the visible energy on the beach suggested a strong desire for change among the attendees.
The stakes are high because no candidate who lost the first round has ever won the runoff since democracy returned to Brazil in the 1980s. Bolsonaro took the lead on 4 October with 47 percent of the vote, compared to Lula’s 45 percent. With nearly 159 million eligible voters, a victory for the incumbent would be an unprecedented achievement in the country’s political history.
Lula has recently gained ground after several scandals implicated his opponent. Reports indicated that Bolsonaro attended a boat party with sex workers and vaccine lobbyists during the peak of the 2020 pandemic. This has helped Lula climb in the polls, though most analysts still view Bolsonaro as the slight favorite. Bolsonaro has positioned himself as a tough leader on violent crime, leveraging his father’s legacy as a former president.
For many voters, this election is about more than standard policy differences. Jair Bolsonaro is currently serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup after his 2022 defeat. Some democrats worry he could be released or return to power if his son wins, potentially giving his allies senior military and police roles. One restaurateur in the crowd noted that her opposition was specifically to Bolsonaro’s movement, citing the loss of four relatives due to pandemic neglect.
Bolsonaro’s supporters also organized rallies, particularly in Minas Gerais. Thousands gathered in Belo Horizonte wearing yellow jerseys and waving both Brazilian and American flags. This state is a critical bellwether because no candidate has won the presidency without carrying it. Bolsonaro led there by nearly five percent in the first round, and his backers emphasized his platform of strengthening self-defense rights, despite expert concerns about how previous gun law changes affected crime rates.
