In Brazil, fears of Jan. 6-style post-election violence increase as president casts doubt on voting system

To partisans across a stark political divide, Brazil's upcoming election is nothing less than a battle for the future of democracy in South America's largest nation. 

Brazil's Oct. 2 vote pits 76-year-old leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, against the far-right incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro, a former congressman and army captain.  

Analysts fear Brazil, home to more than 210 million people, could face political violence or something akin to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, as Bolsonaro has consistently tried to delegitimize the electoral system.

With anti-incumbency running high and Lula ahead in the polls, Brazil could become the latest Latin American country to shift to the political left, following recent elections in Colombia, Chile, Honduras and others.

"You have two candidates who represent very different attitudes toward Brazilian democracy as well as having different visions," said Matthew Richmond, a research fellow who tracks Brazilian politics from the London School of Economics. 

"If we are going to take Bolsonaro's recent statements at face value, as we probably should, he is unlikely to accept the result."
 

'Only God will get me out,' Bolsonaro says

Most opinion polls, including one from Genial/Quaest released earlier this month, show Lula holding a double-digit lead over Bolsonaro in the first round of balloting. Other candidates, including a senator and a former governor, are polling at less than 10 per cent and the race is widely considered a showdown between Bolsonaro and Lula. 

Under Brazilian election rules, a run-off vote between the two leading candidates is expected if a single candidate fails to win more than 50 per cent in the first round. 

Like his political ally former U.S. president Donald Trump, Bolsonaro has consistently sought to undermine the credibility of state institutions, calling Brazil's widely respected voting infrastructure "a farce."

"We cannot accept a voting system that does not offer any security in the elections," Bolsonaro told supporters last year. "Only God will get me out." 

He has also said he might not accept the results of the election, unless the computerized system used by Brazilian authorities is replaced by printed ballots. 

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