Lula bets on education and non-voters to overturn the result in the runoff

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has set education, research and industrial policy as the pillars of his campaign for the October 25 runoff, and urged the more than 30 million Brazilians who abstained on Sunday to vote, after finishing behind Senator Flávio Bolsonaro in the first round.

With 99.9% of votes counted, Bolsonaro took 47% of valid votes and Lula 45%. “The result is often unexpected. You never get everything you wanted,” the president said from a hotel in São Paulo. “The second round is the moment to show the true picture of today's Brazil and the Brazil we want.”

Lula pledged to maintain investment in universities, federal institutes and secondary education, and to expand the Pé-de-Meia programme, which gives students a financial incentive to reduce school dropout. “It is through education that we will change this country,” he said, linking that commitment to increasing Brazil's productive and technological capacity.

The 80-year-old president again questioned his rival's record, citing “very serious suspicions” over alleged links to organised crime and to the Banco Master case. Bolsonaro is under investigation in that case, without formal charges, and has denied any wrongdoing.

Abstention will be key. Votes for the candidates eliminated in the first round, around 8% in total, come largely from centre-right and right-wing voters, while those who do not vote are disproportionately from lower-income groups, Lula's electoral base.