Brazil's Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro Are Neck and Neck in Presidential Runoff,

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro were tied in a simulated run-off, an AtlasIntel/Bloomberg poll showed on Tuesday, ahead of this year's presidential election.



Right-wing challenger Bolsonaro would receive 47.8% of the vote in a second round of voting, compared with 47.5% for the leftist incumbent.



In a March poll, Bolsonaro had 47.6% to Lula's 46.6%.



A BTG Pactual/Nexus poll on Monday had also shown the two frontrunners were statistically tied.



In two first-round simulations, Lula was expected to win between 44.2% and 46.6% of the vote, while Bolsonaro would take between 39.3% and 39.7%, depending on other candidates.



In Brazil, if no candidate gets more than 50% of valid votes, the two frontrunners go to a second-round vote, which has happened in every election since 2002.



Latin America's largest economy will hold general elections in October.



Markets have tracked polls closely since former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest, endorsed his son Flavio, 44, in December.



The 80-year-old Lula, who defeated the elder Bolsonaro in 2022, will seek a fourth non-consecutive term as president.