SAO PAULO (AP) — With some voters hoping for a fresh start and others fearing the worst is yet to come, Brazilians cast ballots on Sunday in a divisive election that comes on the heels of major political scandals and economic decline.
Pre-election polls showed an increasingly tight race between a far-right congressman who waxes nostalgically about the dictatorship and a leftist stand-in for jailed ex-President Luiz Inacio da Silva, who was barred from running.
The starkly competing visions have alienated as many people as they have attracted, bringing to the surface deep divisions along the lines of class, race, sexual orientation and “traditional values.”
A year ago, many believed that “throw-the-bums-out” rage would buoy the chances of an outsider and end the hegemony of the center-left Workers’ Party and the center-right Brazilian Social Democracy Party, which have for years battled it out for the presidency.
Like much in this election, it hasn’t turned out as predicted. The man who has benefited most from widespread anger in the electorate is a 27-year veteran of Congress — Jair Bolsonaro of the Social Liberal Party — whose outsider status is based largely on hard-right positions. His campaign has included praise for a military dictatorship, insults to women and gay people and calls to fight crime by loosening controls on already deadly police forces.
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Breaking: With 53 percent of returns in, Brazil far-right candidate Bolsonaro is leading presidential race with 49 percent of votes.
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Originally Posted by Peter1469
