Brazil's far-right presidential candidate leads polls

Jair Bolsonaro is well ahead in the polls forecasting the run-off on October 28. And nowhere is his candidacy better supported than in the southern state of Santa Catarina.

A supporter of Jair Bolsonaro, far-right lawmaker and presidential candidate of the Social Liberal Party (PSL), attends a demonstration in Rio de Janeiro. October 21, 2018
Reuters

A supporter of Jair Bolsonaro, far-right lawmaker and presidential candidate of the Social Liberal Party (PSL), attends a demonstration in Rio de Janeiro. October 21, 2018

The end to Brazil's most divisive presidential campaign since the end of military rule three decades ago is within sight as voters will decide this Sunday (October 28) who will lead the biggest country of South America.

The election has polarised Brazilian society with the entry of far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro. 

Bolsonaro is known for his harsh and controversial rhetoric, but to fight corruption and crime are his major promises. Voters see Bolsonaro as an anti-establishment politician. 

"Right now, my life is about getting people on board, showing them why Bolsonaro is a good option. We don't need more corrupt people in power. We can believe in a renewal of politics in Brazil," Mayara, a young woman active in Bolsonaro's Social Liberal Party in Santa Carina, said.

Reuters

Rio de Janeiro's Legislative Assembly elected politicians of PSL party pose in front a banner of Presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro after a news conference in Rio de Janeiro. October 16, 2018.

A stronghold

Santa Catarina is one of Bolsonaro's strongholds. The state is one of the richest and least violent Brazilian states with a long conservative political tradition. 

More than eighty percent of the state population is white, the highest concentration in the country.

"The political culture in states like Santa Catarina is strongly bigoted, and these prejudices are reinvigorated with the polarisation of society," Ernesto Seidle, a professor at the Santa Catarina Federal University said.

Bolsonaro's challenger, leftist candidate Fernando Haddad, has his strongest support in the northeast of the country, where a majority poor and black population has benefited from years of Workers Party poverty alleviation programs.

But with Bolsonaro polling 18 points ahead, it seems that he has set to coast to victory in the October 28 run-off.

Most Santa Catarina residents expect they'll soon be celebrating.

But many others are wondering what impact that would have on the poorest and most marginalised communities.

TRT World's Michael Fox reports from Florianopolis, Brazil.

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