Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won the most votes in the first round of Brazil's elections, but he cannot be sure that he will defeat incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in a direct duel in the second round on October 30.

Left-wing candidate Lula won 48,4 percent of the vote, which was 1,6 percent short of being elected president in the first round. The right-wing Bolsonaro, on the other hand, won 43,3 percent of the vote, more than pre-election polls indicated. It is believed that in the period of four weeks until the direct duel, Bolsonaro has the capacity to mobilize his supporters and achieve the difference.

– The fight continues until the final victory. We will win these elections - said Lula, who was president from 2003 to 2010.

Bolsonaro also expressed faith in a final victory, who, like his idol Donald Trump, repeatedly complained during the campaign that "the elections will be rigged in favor of his opponent", threatening that "only God can remove him from power".

In the 2018 election that Bolsonaro won, Lula was unable to run because he was in prison on corruption charges. This time, both of them turned the campaign into a war of personal insults – in the last duel before the vote, Bolsonaro called his opponent a "thief", and Lula replied that he was competing with a "madman".

Analysts suggest that voters actually chose the "lesser evil". In both terms, Lula made big mistakes and was repeatedly accused of corruption, and Bolsonaro is considered an even greater pest for the economy and for the destruction of natural resources. Bolsonaro's main voter base is farmers and ranchers, for whom the destruction of the Amazon forest has opened up new arable land, and Lula's are activists for the protection of nature and the fight against climate change, to which Brazil is particularly sensitive.

More than 150 million Brazilians with the right to vote also elected governors, a third of senators, as well as federal and 27 state representatives on Sunday.