Brazil Votes With Far-right Candidate Favorite

Rio de Janeiro, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Oct, 2018 ) :Brazil began voting Sunday in a divisive presidential run-off election whose front-runner, far-right former army captain Jair Bolsonaro, is vowing to rescue the country from crisis with a firm grip.

Bolsonaro -- who has tapped deep anti-establishment anger, but repulsed part of the electorate with his denigrating remarks on women, gays and blacks -- faces leftist Fernando Haddad, a former Sao Paulo mayor.

Bolsonaro had an eight- to 10-point lead going in, according to two final opinion polls released Saturday, which gave him about 55 percent of the vote.

And while Haddad had made up ground -- he trailed by as much as 18 points two weeks ago -- it would take a dramatic surge for him to win.

"This thing is going to turn around," Haddad, 55, buoyantly told thousands of supporters at his final campaign rally Saturday.

Bolsonaro, 63, made his own final pitch on social media, the only place he has campaigned since an attacker stabbed him in the stomach at a rally last month, sending him to the hospital for three weeks.