Brazilian left-wing leader Luis Inacio Lula da Silva has edged outgoing Brazilian far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, after 70 percent of polling stations were counted in the Brazilian presidential election.
Lula received 45.74 percent of the vote, compared to 45.51 percent for Bolsonaro, according to the official website of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal in charge of counting the votes.
Screening was more advanced in the Bolsonaro stronghold in the north and southeast regions than in the Lula stronghold in the northeast.
At the start of the count, Bolsonaro scored a slight five-point lead over Lula, as his camp rushed to celebrate the preliminary results, and his son Eduardo wrote on social media, “Datafulha got it wrong again.”
Datafolha is a leader in opinion polls, which gave the former president 50 percent of the vote, compared to 36 percent for Bolsonaro, in a poll published on the eve of the elections, in which the leftist candidate was likely to win in the first round.