Brazil election: A clash of titans as Bolsonaro faces Lula

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil's presidential election Sunday is being contested by 11 candidates but only two stand a chance of reaching a runoff: former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.

Both are political titans, and eight of 10 Brazilians will vote for one of them, according to pollster Datafolha. That leaves little space for challengers and means that in lieu of fresh proposals and detailed programs, the two frontrunners have mostly harped on their experience and railed against each other.

“Both candidates are very well known, the vote is very crystallized," said Nara Pavão, who teaches political science at the Federal University of Pernambuco, adding that most voters made up their minds long ago.

Sunday’s election could signal the return of the world’s fourth-largest democracy to a leftist government after four years of far-right politics led by a president criticized for challenging democratic institutions, his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic that killed nearly 700,000 people and an economic recovery that has yet to be felt by the poor.