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Far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro edged ahead of former Luis Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil’s presidential election with 52 percent of the vote.
Mr Bolsonaro’s approval rating was 46.3 percent, while Mr Da Silva, of the left-wing Workers’ Party, was at 44.9 percent.
In Sunday’s election, six other candidates shared the remaining votes.
Voting nationwide closed at 5 p.m., with preliminary results due soon as the polls were conducted electronically. Final results are usually available in a few hours.
The highly polarized election will determine whether the country puts the left back at the helm of the world’s fourth-largest democracy or the far-right leader for another four years.
Bolsonaro’s government has been characterized by inflammatory rhetoric, a test of democratic institutions, its widely criticized handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the worst deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in 15 years.
Mr. da Silva is credited with building a broad social welfare program during his 2003-10 presidency that helped tens of millions into the middle class.
He is also remembered for his government’s involvement in numerous corruption scandals and his own convictions, which were later quashed by the Supreme Court.
More than 150 million Brazilians are eligible to vote, but the abstention rate can be as high as 20 percent.
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